title: Effect of N Fertilization Pattern on Rice Yield, N Use Efficiency and Fertilizer-N Fate in the Yangtze River Basin, China.
abstract: High N loss and low N use efficiency (NUE), caused by high N fertilizer inputs and inappropriate fertilization patterns, have become important issues in the rice (Oryza sativa L.) growing regions of southern China. Changing current farmer fertilizer practice (FFP, 225 kg ha-1 N as three applications, 40% as basal fertilizer, 30% as tillering fertilizer and 30% as jointing fertilizer) to one-time root-zone fertilization (RZF, 225 kg ha-1 N applied once into 10 cm deep holes positioned 5 cm from the rice root as basal fertilizer) will address this problem. A two-year field experiment covering two rice growing regions was conducted to investigate the effect of urea one-time RZF on rice growth, nutrient uptake, and NUE. The highest NH4+-N content for RZF at fertilizer point at 30 d and 60 d after fertilization were 861.8 and 369.9 mg kg-1 higher than FFP, respectively. Rice yield and total N accumulation of RZF increased by 4.3-44.9% and 12.7-111.2% compared to FFP, respectively. RZF reduced fertilizer-N loss by 56.3-81.9% compared to FFP. The NUEs following RZF (mean of 65.8% for the difference method and 43.7% for the labelled method) were significantly higher than FFP (mean of 35.7% for the difference method and 14.4% for the labelled method). In conclusion, RZF maintained substantial levels of fertilizer-N in the root-zone, which led to enhanced rice biomass and N uptake during the early growth stages, increased fertilizer-N residual levels and reduced fertilizer-N loss at harvest. RZF produced a higher yield increment and showed an increased capacity to resist environmental threats than FFP in sandy soils. Therefore, adopting suitable fertilizer patterns plays a key role in enhancing agricultural benefits.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Huoyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jianmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fengqin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Agriculture Committee of Jiangyan City, Taizhou, 225599, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Dejin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhaoming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yongzhe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D018533:Biomass; D002681:China; D005306:Fertilization; D005308:Fertilizers; D012275:Oryza; D045483:Rivers; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D014887:Weather
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D012987:Soil