Effects of single basal application of coated compound fertilizer on yield and nitrogen use efficiency in double cropped rice The Crop Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx CJ 00213; No of Pages 5 Contents lists[.]
CJ-00213; No of Pages The Crop Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Crop Journal Effects of single basal application of coated compound fertilizer on yield and nitrogen use efficiency in double-cropped rice Jiana Chen a, Fangbo Cao a, Hairong Xiong b, Min Huang a, Yingbin Zou a,⁎, Yuanfu Xiong c,⁎ a b c College of Agronomy, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China Center of Analysis and Testing, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China College of Science, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 29 August 2016 Received in revised form 13 December 2016 Accepted 22 January 2017 Available online xxxx Keywords: Rice Yield Fertilizer Nitrogen use efficiency a b s t r a c t Fertilizer plays an important role in increasing rice yield More than half of all fertilizer applied to the field is not taken up, resulting in environmental damage and substantial economic losses To address these concerns, a lowcost, coated compound fertilizer named “Xiang Nong Da” (XND), requiring only a single basal application, was studied A two-year field experiment was conducted to test the effects of XND application on rice yield and nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency An ordinary uncoated compound fertilizer (UNCF), with 20% more nutrients and split application was selected as the control The yield of XND-treated rice was only 3.1% lower than that of the control, an insignificant difference There were no significant differences between N use efficiency indices of the two fertilizer treatments except for N partial factor productivity (PFPN) PFPN of XND treatment was 19.7%–23.2% higher than the control, a significant difference This result indicates that a 20% decrease in N application rate is possible with XND without yield reduction and with savings in both labor and time © 2017 Crop Science Society of China and Institute of Crop Science, CAAS Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Introduction Rice is the main staple food for N60% of China's population [1] Fertilizer is a determining factor for rice growth and plays a vital role in maintaining rice yield Increased fertilizer application has contributed significantly to improved rice yield [2–4] Although fertilization drives productivity, nitrogen use efficiency in rice production is very low, with nitrogen use efficiency in China averaging only 27.5% [5] High external N input and ineffective fertilization practices have led to low nitrogen use efficiency [2,3,6,7] Leaching, runoff, and volatilization are the major N loss pathways Besides the low nitrogen use efficiency, excessive fertilizer in fields harms the environment by increasing the greenhouse effect, soil degradation, and groundwater pollution [8] In view of the present situation, many N conservation application practices such as balanced N fertilization, site-specific N management, integrated N management, nitrification inhibitor use, and controlled-release fertilizers (CRF), have been developed to improve nitrogen use efficiency [7, 9,10] Recently, the use of CRF has become common to lessen fertilizer consumption, increase nitrogen use efficiency, and minimize environmental pollution [9,11,12] CRF is a type of fertilizer that controls the rate of nutrient supply It is a polymer-coated fertilizer, generally a compound fertilizer or urea coated with polymer [13] Many studies have found that CRF applications significantly increase nitrogen use ⁎ Corresponding authors E-mail addresses: ybzou123@126.com (Y Zou), yuanfuxiong888@163.com (Y Xiong) efficiency and crop yield [14,15] They are also more environmentally friendly fertilizers, because the N losses through leaching and denitrification are reduced [16,17,22,23] Conventional fertilization requires frequent applications, whereas a CRF needs only a single application and is thus more labor and time saving than conventional fertilization Thus, study of controlled-release fertilizer techniques is important for increasing rice yield and fertilizer efficiency The present study investigated a low-cost, coated compound controlled-release fertilizer, “Xiang Nong Da” (XND), comparing yield and N use efficiency of test rice cultivars treated with XND or a conventional compound fertilizer with two applications, XND supplied 20% fewer nutrients in the test The study's objectives were to investigate the effects of XND treatment on rice yield and N use efficiency Materials and methods 2.1 Site description Field experiments were conducted during the early season (late March to July) and the late season (mid-June to late October) in 2014 and 2015 in the same field located in Liuyang county, Hunan province, China (28°09′N, 113°37′E, 43 m.a.s.l.) In 2014 before the experiments, experimental site soil samples were collected from the upper 20 cm The soil was clayey with pH 6.25, 23.49 g organic C kg− 1, 1.24 total N kg−1, 18.24 mg kg−1 available P, and 112.71 mg kg−1 available K http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2017.01.002 2214-5141/© 2017 Crop Science Society of China and Institute of Crop Science, CAAS Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Please cite this article as: J Chen, et al., Effects of single basal application of coated compound fertilizer on yield and nitrogen use efficiency in double-cropped rice, The Crop Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2017.01.002 J Chen et al / The Crop Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx 2.2 Genetic material An early-season rural conventional rice variety “Zhongjiazao 17” was used for early-season experiments A late-season hybrid rice variety “Shengtaiyou 9712” (Shengtaiyou A × 9712) was used for late-season experiments These are major cultivars currently widely used in China's Yangtze River valley 2.3 Experimental design The experimental design was a completely randomized block with replicates Each plot had an area of m × m Three fertilizer treatments were applied: T1: a control with no N application T2: an ordinary compound fertilizer, N–P2O5–K2O (20–5–10), produced by Hunan Hua Lu Company, at an N rate of 135 kg ha−1 T3: XND, a controlled-release fertilizer, N–P2O5–K2O (20–5–10), a low-cost, self-developed polymer-coated compound fertilizer [17], produced by Hunan agricultural university, at an N rate of 108 kg ha−1 XND (T3) was used as basal fertilizer once before planting rice The ordinary fertilizer (T2) was applied as a split application at two rice developmental stages: one (50%) at preplant and other (50%) at the tillering stage P and K fertilizers in the T1 treatment were applied as basal dressings at the rate of 34 (P2O5) and 68 (K2O) kg ha−1, and were applied in T2 and T3 at the same rate The nursery field was prepared one week before sowing The compound fertilizer (nutrient content N 35%) was applied to the nursery field at a rate of 450 kg ha−1 before plowing Germinated seeds were sown in nursery beds at a rate of 30 g m−2 on May 23 for early season and June 27 for late season in both years They were transplanted to a spacing of 20.0 cm × 16.5 cm, with three seedlings per hill Seedling age at transplanting was 30 days in early season and 24 days in late season The water regime management was in the sequence of shallow irrigations (2–3 cm), midseason drainage (10–15 days), and shallow irrigation Pests and diseases were controlled using chemicals Weeds were controlled using herbicides and hand pulling 2.4 Measurement and sampling 2.4.1 Dry matter, yield, and yield components Six hills were diagonally sampled from each subplot at full heading stage (when about 80% of the panicles had emerged from the flag leaf sheath) Samples were separated into leaves, stems, and panicles Each part was oven-dried in an oven at 75 °C to constant weight At physiological maturity, in the middle of each subplot, ten hills of plants were diagonally sampled Panicles were counted to calculate panicles m−2 Plant samples were separated into panicles and straw (including rachis) Panicles were hand-threshed Unfilled spikelets were then separated from filled spikelets by submersion in water Three 30 g subsamples of filled grain and all unfilled spikelets were manually counted Straw and filled and unfilled spikelets were ovendried at 75 °C to constant weight Spikelets per panicle, spikelet filling percentage, and harvest index were then calculated Grain yield was obtained from a m2 area in each plot and adjusted to the standard moisture content of 0.14 kg H2O kg−1 2.4.2 Leaf area index [LAI] and N content A leaf area meter (LI-3000, LI-COR, Lincoln, NE, USA) was used to measure the green leaf area at full heading stage and LAI was calculated leaf area/unit ground area N concentrations in stem, filled and unfilled, were measured with a Skalar SAN Plus segmented flow analyzer (Skalar Inc., Breda, The Netherlands) N uptake was calculated by biomass multiply N content Nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency indices were calculated as follows: Applied N partial factor productivity ðPFPN Þ ẳ GYỵN ị=FN Applied N agronomic efficiencyAEN ị ẳ GYỵN GYN ị=FN Applied N crop recovery efficiencyREN ị%ị ẳ TNỵN TNN ị=FN 100 Applied N physiological efficiencyPEN ị ẳ GYỵN GYN ị=TNỵN TNN ị where TN+N = N total accumulation of aboveground plants in the plot that received N fertilizer; TN−N = total N accumulation of aboveground plants in the zero-N control; FN = the amount of N fertilizer applied; GY+ N = grain yield in the plot that received N fertilizer; GY− N = grain yield in the zero-N control Fig Daily maximum and minimum temperatures during the experimental period Please cite this article as: J Chen, et al., Effects of single basal application of coated compound fertilizer on yield and nitrogen use efficiency in double-cropped rice, The Crop Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2017.01.002 J Chen et al / The Crop Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Table Grain yield, yield components, total biomass production, and harvest index under three fertilizer treatments in 2014 and 2015 Year, season, and treatment Grain yield (t ha−1) Panicles (m−2) Spikelets per panicle Spikelet filling percentage (%) Grain weight (mg) Total biomass (g m−2) Harvest index (%) 2014 Early season T1 T2 T3 5.65 b 8.84 a 8.47 a 172.73 b 315.15 a 313.13 a 124.57 a 113.81 a 120.60 a 77.90 a 74.86 a 74.37 a 25.98 a 26.11 a 25.92 a 742.17 b 1235.61 a 1287.18 a 58.3 a 56.4 a 56.4 a 2014 Late season T1 T2 T3 5.46 b 8.92 a 8.58 a 213.13 c 348.49 a 314.14 b 94.51 b 102.69 b 118.15 a 80.35 a 76.85 a 76.22 a 25.55 ab 26.10 a 25.41 b 738.87 b 1336.34 a 1335.10 a 56.2 a 53.6 a 53.8 a 2015 Early season T1 T2 T3 5.61 b 9.78 a 9.44 a 189.90 b 343.44 a 312.12 a 111.85 a 126.55 a 127.33 a 88.72 a 79.17 b 78.87 b 26.48 a 25.69 b 25.57 b 808.37 b 1523.40 a 1413.88 a 61.7 a 57.5 b 56.6 b 2015 Late season T1 T2 T3 4.58 b 8.71 a 8.59 a 203.03 b 358.59 a 334.34 a 87.69 b 105.36 a 103.26 a 81.94 a 76.69 ab 73.84 b 25.86 a 26.15 a 26.16 a 681.50 b 1424.20 a 1309.35 a 55.1 a 53.2 ab 51.2 b Within each column, values followed by different letters are significantly different at the 0.05 probability level according to Least Significant Difference test 2.5 Data analysis 3.2 N uptake and N use efficiency Data were analyzed by analysis of variance (Statistix 8.0, Analytical Software, Tallahassee, FL, USA), and significant differences between means were identified by the Least Significant Difference test at the 0.05 probability level T2 achieved the greatest total N uptake regardless of year or season (Table 2), but it was not significantly higher than that of T3 AEN, REN, PEN, and PFPN were higher in T3 than in T2 for all years and seasons There were no significant differences in AEN or PEN between T2 and T3 The PFPN of T3 was significantly higher except in 2014 late season 2.6 Climatic conditions Maximum and minimum temperatures for the experimental periods within the season followed the same trends in both years (Fig 1) In the early season, maximum and minimum temperatures increased between transplanting and maturity In the late season, temperatures between transplanting and maturity decreased For both years in both seasons, experimental period average maximum and minimum temperatures were approximately 30 °C and 22 °C Results 3.3 LAI LAI at flowering was significantly different between treatments T1 showed the lowest LAI at flowering across all years and seasons (Fig 2) During 2014 late season and 2015 early season, LAI at flowering was significantly higher in T3 than in T2 There was no significant difference between T2 and T3 in 2014 early season and 2015 late season Generally, LAI at flowering among treatments showed a similar ranking (T3 N T2 N T1) across all years and seasons 3.1 Grain yield and yield attributes There was no significant difference in grain yield between T2 and T3 in both years and seasons But these yields were significantly higher than those of T1 (Table 1) T2 consistently reached the highest yield regardless of year or season There were significant differences between the zero-N treatment (T1) and the N treatments (T2, 135 kg ha− 1, T3, 108 kg ha− 1) in panicles m−2 (Table 1) The ranking across years and seasons was as follows: T2 N T3 N T1 T2 consistently produced more panicles m−2 regardless of year or season, but significantly more than T3 only in the 2014 late season Spikelets per panicle were fewer in T1 than in the other two treatments in both years and seasons except for the 2014 early season There were significant differences in spikelets per panicle between T2 and T3 in the 2014 late season Grain-filling percentage was slightly higher in T1 than in other treatments for 2015, but not 2014 The ranking across different years and seasons was as follows: T1 N T2 N T3 Grain weight among treatments was not consistent and did not show an identifiable trend T1 total biomass production was significantly lower than that of the other two treatments for all years and seasons, with no significant differences between T2 and T3 T3 was always higher than T2 except in 2014 early season Differences in harvest index between T2 and T3 were insignificant Table Total N uptake, applied N agronomic efficiency (AEN), applied N crop recovery efficiency (REN), applied N physiological efficiency (PEN), and applied N partial factor productivity (PFPN) under three fertilizer treatments in 2014 and 2015 AEN (kg kg−1) REN (%) PEN (kg kg−1) PFPN (kg kg−1) 2014 Early season T1 44.12 b T2 104.95 a T3 93.87 a 23.68 a 26.16 a 45.06 a 46.07 a 55.78 a 56.54 a 65.50 b 78.43 a 2014 Late season T1 45.91 b T2 102.78 a T3 96.67 a 25.66 a 28.88 a 42.13 b 47.01 a 61.12 a 61.74 a 66.08 a 79.40 a 2015 Early season T1 70.39 b T2 153.43 a T3 142.41 a 30.88 a 35.49 a 61.51 a 66.69 a 51.61 a 52.72 a 72.43 b 87.43 a 2015 Late season T1 55.36 b T2 125.86 a T3 120.69 a 30.58 a 37.12 a 52.22 a 60.49 a 58.90 a 63.73 a 64.53 b 79.55 a Year, season, and treatment Total N uptake (kg ha−1) Within each column, values followed by different letters are significantly different at the 0.05 probability level according to Least Significant Difference test Please cite this article as: J Chen, et al., Effects of single basal application of coated compound fertilizer on yield and nitrogen use efficiency in double-cropped rice, The Crop Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2017.01.002 J Chen et al / The Crop Journal xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Fig Leaf area index (LAI) of early and late season rice under three fertilizer treatments in 2014 and 2015 Discussion N loss is a severe problem in rice cultivation Nitrogen use efficiency in rice is often low as a result of high N loss through volatilization, leaching, and denitrification Controlled-release fertilizers generally outperform granular urea fertilizer in reducing N losses, stimulating plant growth, and increasing nitrogen use efficiency [12] Yang et al [18] reported that using controlled-release urea (CRU) in rice without additional fertilizer application during the growing season significantly increased N availability in soil and improved yields by 13.6%–26.5% In the present study, the rice yield was 3.1% lower under XND treatment than under ordinary compound fertilizer treatment, but XND requires only one application and is more labor and time saving than standard compound fertilizers, which require split fertilization The labor cost of fertilization of XND was only half that of the ordinary compound fertilizer Considering the negative impact of over fertilization on grain yield, damage to the environment, and decrease in nitrogen use efficiency and grain quality, it is desirable to pay more attention to reducing fertilizer inputs in rice production in China [6,19,20] Gen et al [21] found that reducing the CRU rate by 30% produced the same crop yield as with the 100% rate of urea, and rice yield under a CRU 50% treatment showed no significant difference from that under a urea 100% treatment In our experiment, XND treatment supplied only 80% of the N amount of standard compound fertilizers The application of controlled release fertilizer can increase rice production by increasing the number of panicles m− and spikelets per panicle [22,23] In the present study, analysis of yield components indicated that XND rice yield did not decrease significantly, owing to larger panicle size (spikelets per panicle) Equal total biomass production was responsible for the similar grain yield between the two treatments There have been consistent findings that controlled-release fertilizer can improve nitrogen use efficiency in rice production compared with regular fertilizer [12,14,18,24] Nitrogen use efficiency is a widely used index in evaluating fertilizer management efficiency, and it can be further separated into different component indices to represent diverse aspects [25,26] In this study, there were no significant differences between N use efficiency indices of the two fertilizer treatments except for PFPN, which is an aggregate efficiency index that includes contributions to grain yield derived from indigenous soil N uptake, fertilizer N uptake efficiency, and the efficiency with which N acquired by the rice plant is converted to grain yield [27] Tang et al [28] showed that at 30 days after fertilization, single basal application of controlled-release fertilizers increased soil available N by 147.9% in comparison to a control treatment That author indicated that the main mechanisms for increasing rice yield using a single basal application of controlled-release fertilizers should be attributed to greater soil N supply availability Thus, in the present study, the similarly high yield from XND treatment may have been driven mainly by indigenous soil N and not by fertilizer N But we did not measure the variety of soil N content after applied the CRF Further studies are needed to explain the mechanisms of increase in rice yield using XND Conclusion XND, a one-time basal fertilizer (80% N), achieved nearly identical yields to uncoated compound fertilizer used in a split application (100% N) It showed consistently higher values than the control for partial factor productivity of N (PFPN)·This finding supports the conclusion that controlled release fertilizers such as XND should be explored as a partial substitute for common fertilizers in order to obtain sustainable increases in crop yields and decrease labor costs Acknowledgments This research was supported by the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201303103) and China Agriculture Research System (CARS-01) References [1] L.D Bi, B Zhang, G.R Liu, Z.Z Li, Y.R Liu, C Ye, X.C Yu, T Lai, J.G Zhang, 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X Huang, Studies on the mechanism of single basal application of controlled-release fertilizers for increasing yield of rice (Oryza sativa L.), Agric Sci China (2007) 586–596 Please cite this article as: J Chen, et al., Effects of single basal application of coated compound fertilizer on yield and nitrogen use efficiency in double-cropped rice, The Crop Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2017.01.002 ... cite this article as: J Chen, et al., Effects of single basal application of coated compound fertilizer on yield and nitrogen use efficiency in double- cropped rice, The Crop Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2017.01.002... cite this article as: J Chen, et al., Effects of single basal application of coated compound fertilizer on yield and nitrogen use efficiency in double- cropped rice, The Crop Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2017.01.002... explain the mechanisms of increase in rice yield using XND Conclusion XND, a one-time basal fertilizer (80% N), achieved nearly identical yields to uncoated compound fertilizer used in a split application