Abstract
The nitrogen (N) demand–supply is crucial for optimizing nutrient management in orchards. However, some knowledge gaps remain regarding the exact magnitude of N demand and the relative contribution of native soil N, fertilizer N and reserve N to tree growth in the field. Sequential destructive sampling, N difference method, and 15N-labeled fertilizer were combined to quantify N uptake and sources in an apple orchard from 2019 to 2021. The annual N requirement for young dwarf apple trees was 9–11 kg ha−1, while the N supply had little effect on their demand, uptake, and partitioning. Approximately 80% of the N was absorbed between the end of spring shoot growth and nutrient withdrawal in 2019–2020. In 2020–2021, 59% and 21% of the total N uptake occurred during spring shoot slow growth to cessation and autumn shoot growth to nutrient withdrawal, respectively. At nutrient withdrawal, N storage of apple trees was 3 kg ha−1 in 2019–2020, contributing to 25% of the total N, and 7.8 kg ha−1 in 2020–2021, contributing to 44% of the total N. Apple trees acquired 81% of N from the soil when fertilizer was supplied, i.e., 8.6 and 7.2 kg ha−1 N in the first and following year, respectively. Throughout the growing season, the amount of N fertilization should be coupled with the seasonal N uptake by trees. Native soil N, not chemical fertilizer, is the primary N source in young apple orchards. A better balance of N fertilizer inputs, native soil N supply, and N demand for apple trees is needed to minimize associated environmental impacts.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We sincerely thank Chao Shi, Yaxu Qin and Chong Wang for their assistance in the field and laboratory.
Funding
This study was supported by the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-27), the Major Project of Science and Technology of Shaanxi (2020zdzx03-02–01) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42007093).
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BZ and ZZ conceived and designed the study; ZZ performed the experiment; QZ, AZ, TW, ZZ, TS and SC contributed to the field and laboratory work; WZ contributed to the result interpretation; ZZ and BZ analyzed the data and wrote this manuscript and all authors contributed to revising the manuscript.
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Zheng, Z., Zhang, Q., Zhang, A. et al. Distinguishing the contribution of nitrogen fertilizer and native soil nitrogen to young apple trees. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 126, 101–114 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-023-10278-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-023-10278-w