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Nitrogen loss via runoff and leaching from paddy fields with the proportion of controlled-release urea and conventional urea rates under alternate wetting and drying irrigation

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Abstract

Alternate wetting and drying irrigation (AWD) can reduce non-point source pollution from paddy fields by mitigating field water depth. However, the influence of compounding modes of polymer-coated urea (PCU) and conventional urea (CU) on nitrogen (N) loss via runoff and leaching from paddy fields under AWD conditions remains unclear. To address this question, in this study, a 2-year field experiment was set up with three N management treatments: (a) 100% CU (N1), (b) 60% PCU + 40% CU (N2), and (c) 100% PCU (N3), at an equivalent N rate of 240 kg ha−1 that was applied to traditional continuously flooded (CI) and AWD systems. The results of this experiment showed a high-risk period of N loss from the paddy fields within 7 d after basal fertilization and 5 days after tillering fertilization. AWD reduced irrigation frequencies by 3.5 times and total input of irrigation water by 38.1%, increasing water utilization from precipitation by 44.4% than CI and reducing the volume of runoff by 46.1% and leaching water by 22.1%. This reduced the total N (TN) loss through runoff and leaching under AWD. In the N2 and N3 treatment groups, N concentration in floodwater decreased from 33.8 to 24.9%, TN loss via runoff decreased by 35.3 to 25.0%, and leaching decreased by 41.7 to 30.3% from the paddy field compared to N1. With the same N mode, AWD showed a higher N uptake (from jointing to maturity stage) and rice yield compared to CI. Besides, N2 and N3 had higher N uptake compared to N1 under the two irrigation regimes. Moreover, the AWDN3 and AWDN2 treatments resulted in the lowest and second-lowest loss of TN via runoff (2.21 to 2.66 kg ha−1) and leaching (8.14 and 10.21 kg ha−1), respectively, from the paddy fields and had the relatively high N uptake in rice in the maturity stage. Remarkably, compared with N3, N2 had a comparable grain yield under CI; however, it showed a higher yield under AWD, suggesting that there is a positive interaction in the rice yield between the AWD and compounding N (PCU + CU) fertilization practice. Thus, AWD coupled with N2 could be recommended as a useful approach to reduce N loss via runoff and leaching from paddy fields, which could increase the grain yield of middle-season rice.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the reviewers who participated in the review, as well as MJEditor (www.mjeditor.com) for providing English editing services during the preparation of this manuscript. The authors are also thankful to Ms. Chen Pan and Mr. Yu Yang for providing the assistance in field investigation and nitrogen content measurements.

Funding

This work has been supported by State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, China (2020NSG05), the National Natural Science Fund of China (U21A2039), and the Engineering Research Center of Ecology and Agricultural Use of Wetland, Ministry of Education, China (KF202008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Dongliang Qi & Xiugui Wang

  2. Engineering Research Center of Ecology and Agriculture Use of Wetland, Ministry of Education, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, 434025, Hubei, China

    Dongliang Qi & Jianqiang Zhu

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  1. Dongliang Qi
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D.L.Q. and J.Q.Z. were involved in acquisition and analysis of data for the work. D.L.Q. was involved in the design of the work and wrote this paper. X.G.W. revised it critically for important intellectual content.

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Correspondence to Dongliang Qi.

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Qi, D., Zhu, J. & Wang, X. Nitrogen loss via runoff and leaching from paddy fields with the proportion of controlled-release urea and conventional urea rates under alternate wetting and drying irrigation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 61741–61752 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26480-w

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