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Production Papers

Fertilization and Nitrogen Balance in a Wheat–Maize Rotation System in North China

^a Dep. of Plant Nutrition, China Agricultural Univ., Beijing, 100094, P. R. China
^b Dep. of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
^c Institute of Plant Nutrition, Univ. of Hohenheim, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany

^* Corresponding author (chenxp{at}cau.edu.cn)

Received for publication May 23, 2005. Over N fertilization is a common problem for the winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–summer maize (Zea mays L.) rotation system in the North China Plain. A field experiment which included control (no N), conventional N (Con. N) fertilization, and optimized N (N_min) fertilization treatments, was conducted from 1999 to 2003 near Beijing, China. Soil nitrate (NO₃) dynamics were measured and N balance was calculated for the period of the eight successive cropping seasons. Soil NO₃–N in the 0- to 90-cm profile for the Con. N treatment ranged from 157 to 700 kg ha^–1 during the eight successive cropping seasons, much greater than those in the no N and optimized N treatments. Large amounts of soil NO₃–N were detected in the 90- to 200-cm layer under the conventional N fertilization treatment, especially in the summer maize season. For the N_min treatment, the total amount of N applied was 511 kg N ha^–1 in the eight successive crops as compared with 2400 kg N ha^–1 of the Con. N treatment. Grain yields were not different between the fertilized treatments except for maize in 2003. Soil NO₃–N in the root zone under conditions of optimized N fertilization was maintained at a relatively low level as compared with the Con. N treatment, therefore dramatically decreasing NO₃–N movement to deeper soil profile. This study indicates that soil NO₃ movement out of the effective crop root zone is an important pathway of N losses in this winter wheat–summer maize rotation system in the North China Plain and the optimized N fertilization by an improved N_min method shows high potential of reducing N-leaching losses.

Abbreviations: ANOVA, analysis of variance • NUE, nitrogen-use efficiency • PASWC, plant-available soil water content • TDR, time domain reflectometry

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