Effects of different soil management practices on winter wheat yield and N losses on a dryland loess soil in China
Ke Jin A B D , Stefaan De Neve B , Bram Moeskops B , Junjie Lu C , Jie Zhang C , Donald Gabriels B , Dianxiong Cai A and Jiyun Jin AA Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; Plant Nutrition and Nutrient Cycling Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture, China.
B Department of Soil Management, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
C Luoyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Luoyang 300071, China.
D Corresponding author. Email: kjin@caas.ac.cn
Australian Journal of Soil Research 46(5) 455-463 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07134
Submitted: 11 September 2007 Accepted: 23 June 2008 Published: 5 August 2008
Abstract
One of the most important problems in the Loess Plateau of China affecting sustainable agriculture is inefficient nutrient use. Field experiments were conducted to study the effects of different soil management practices on the nitrogen (N) dynamics and winter wheat yield on a loess soil in Luoyang, Henan province, China. The results showed that subsoiling with mulch (SS) consistently increased the yield of winter wheat primarily by better water harvest compared with conventional tillage (CT). The influence on yield of no till with mulch (NT) depended on the amount of precipitation. TC (2 crops per year) lowered the winter wheat yield mainly due to the unfavourable soil moisture conditions after growing peanut in summer; however, the harvested peanut gained an extra profit for the local farmer. N uptake by grain and straw and N export was highest for SS. Changes in frequency and intensity of tillage practice altered soil total N content and its distribution along the slope. SS and NT increased the N content of the surface layer (0–0.20 m) compared with CT, but there was no significant effect in deeper soil layers. Considerable amounts of nitrate-N were left in the profile 0–1.60 cm just after harvest under all treatments. The cumulative nitrate-N content to a depth of 1.60 m on average was 282 kg/ha, of which 56 kg/ha was in the layer 1.20–1.60 m, which is an indication of considerable nitrate leaching. From data of 7 consecutive years between 1999 and 2006, it could be concluded that SS resulted in the highest yield and total N content in the surface layer, and is the most sustainable tillage option for the circumstances of the study area.
Additional keywords: drylands, nitrogen, soil management practices, winter wheat, yield.
Acknowledgments
The research work was conducted in the framework of the project ‘Improving the capacity of the Soil and Fertilizer Institute (CAAS, China) for controlling nutrient losses by erosion and optimizing nutrient use efficiency in the loess belt of Northern China’, which was funded by the Flemish Interuniversity Council, Belgium, and ‘Effects of tillage practices on the soil biological fertility in the Chinese Loess Plateau’, which was funded by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences fund, to which we are greatly indebted. We are further grateful to Steven De Gryse, Tom Braeckman, and Lieven De Temmerman for their assistance in field installation of the equipment, soil sampling, monitoring, and analysis.
Bayer C,
Mielniczuk J,
Amado TJC,
Martin-Neto L, Fernandes SV
(2000) Organic matter storage in a sandy clay loam Acrisol affected by tillage and cropping systems in southern Brazil. Soil & Tillage Research 54, 101–109.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
D’Haene K,
Vandenbruwane J,
De Neve S,
Gabriels D,
Salornez J, Hofman G
(2008) The effect of reduced tillage on nitrogen dynamics in silt loam soils. European Journal of Agronomy 28, 449–460.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fabrizzi KP,
Garcia FO,
Costa JL, Picone LI
(2005) Soil water dynamics, physical properties and corn and wheat responses to minimum and no-tillage systems in the southern Pampas of Argentina. Soil & Tillage Research 81, 57–69.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Gao YJ,
Li Y,
Li SX,
Qin Q,
Cao WX,
Liu WG,
Zhang JC,
Dang ZP, Liu JH
(2005) Effects of different wheat cultivation methods on residual nitrate nitrogen in soil in dryland. Acta Ecologica Sinica 25, 2901–2910 [in Chinese].
Ju XT, Zhang FS
(2003) Thinking about nitrogen recovery rate. Ecology and Environment 12, 192–197 [in Chinese].
Karlen DL,
Kramer LA,
Kanwar RS,
Cambardella CA, Colvin TS
(1998) Tillage system effects on 15-year carbon-based and simulated N budgets in a tile-drained Iowa field. Soil & Tillage Research 48, 155–165.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lal R
(2002) Soil carbon sequestration in China through agricultural intensification, and restoration of degraded and desertified ecosystems. Land Degradation and Development 13, 469–478.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Liu XJ,
Ju XT, Zhang FS
(2004) Effect of reduced N application on N utilization and balance in winter wheat–summer maize cropping system. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology 15, 458–462 [in Chinese].
| PubMed |
Lu DQ,
Tong YA, Sun BH
(1998) Investigations on the effect of nitrogen fertilizer application on environmental quality. Plant Nutrition and Fertility Science [in Chinese] 4, 8–15.
Ozpinar S, Cay A
(2006) Effect of different tillage systems on the quality and crop productivity of a clay–loam soil in semi-arid north-western Turkey. Soil & Tillage Research 88, 95–106.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Raun WR, Johnson GV
(1999) Improving nitrogen use efficiency for cereal production. Agronomy Journal 91, 358–363.
Van Kessel C, Christopher H
(2000) Agricultural management of grain legumes: has it led to an increase in nitrogen fixation? Field Crops Research 65, 165–181.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
