Effects of Controlled-Release Fertiliser on Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Summer Maize

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is a nutrient element necessary for plant growth and development. However, excessive inputs of N will lead to inefficient use and large N losses to the environment, which can adversely affect air and water quality, biodiversity and human health. To examine the effects of controlled-release fertilisers (CRF) on yield, we measured ammonia volatilisation, N use efficiency (NUE) and photosynthetic rate after anthesis in summer maize hybrid cultivar Zhengdan958. Maize was grown using common compound fertiliser (CCF), the same amount of resin-coated controlled release fertiliser (CRFIII), the same amount of sulphur-coated controlled release fertiliser (SCFIII) as CCF, 75% CRF (CRFII) and SCF (SCFII), 50% CRF (CRFI) and SCF (SCFI), and no fertiliser. We found that treatments CRFIII, SCFIII, CRFII and SCFII produced grain yields that were 13.15%, 14.15%, 9.69% and 10.04% higher than CCF. There were no significant differences in grain yield among CRFI, SCFI and CCF. We also found that the ammonia volatilisation rates of CRF were significantly lower than those of CCF. The CRF treatments reduced the emission of ammonia by 51.34% to 91.34% compared to CCF. In addition, after treatment with CRF, maize exhibited a higher net photosynthetic rate than CCF after anthesis. Agronomic NUE and apparent N recovery were higher in the CRF treatment than in the CCF treatment. The N uptake and physiological NUE of the four yield-enhanced CRF treatments were higher than those of CCF. These results suggest that the increase in NUE in the CRF treatments was generally attributable to the higher photosynthetic rate and lower ammonia volatilisation compared to CCF-treated maize.

Lowering carbon footprint of winter wheat by improving management practices in North China Plain

“…For instance, researchers have already found that adopting drip irrigation, optimizing fertilizer application methods, and using controlled release fertilizer, etc. can reduce the carbon footprint effectively (Ellert and Janzen, 2008;Ye et al, 2013;Zhao et al, 2013a). Furthermore, direct emissions of nitrous oxide from the field accounted for 2.6e9.8% of total GHG emissions.…”

Effects of fertilizer management strategies on maize yield and nitrogen use efficiencies under different densities

“…Furthermore, increasing the frequency of top‐dressing applications is usually unacceptable due to practical and economic reasons. The application of controlled release fertilizer could release N gradually to coincide with the N demand of the crop (Grant et al., 2012; Ye et al., 2013) and has been proven to increase the grain yield and NUE of maize compared with conventional urea by several studies (Diez et al., 1994; Hu et al., 2013; Zhao, Dong, Zhang, & Liu, 2013; Zheng et al., 2017). Previous research on fertilization and planting densities focused on common fertilizer, however, there have been few attempts to evaluate the effects of slow‐released fertilizer on post‐silking N uptake and translocation, SLN, NUE, and grain yield in comparison with conventional fertilizer under different plant densities.…”

Effects of a controlled-release fertilizer on yield, nutrient uptake, and fertilizer usage efficiency in early ripening rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

“…Nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) are critical nutrient elements for crop plant growth and development, and applying fertilizers, especially N to crops, is a valuable agronomic practice (Zhao et al, 2013). However, excessive fertilization can result in nutrient inefficiencies and excessive losses of N and P in the field environment, and also impact soil, water and air quality, human health, and biodiversity (Goulding et al, 2008).…”

“…Controlled-release fertilizer (CRF) is a good alternative to soluble fertilizer (SF) to increase FUE and minimize nutrient losses, especially N, in the field environment (Zhao et al, 2013). The coating material types of CRF play a key role in gradually releasing the nutrient (Li et al, 2012), and the most important parameters for controlling nutrient release include the thickness of the coating membrane, followed by temperature, granule radius, soil microbial activity, etc.…”

“…(Du et al, 2008;Kaplan et al, 2013), and they are controlled to match the nutrient requirement of the plants (Dai et al, 2008;Yan et al, 2008;Ni et al, 2009). Due to a lack of experience with the field performance of CRF and its high relative cost, current grower acceptance is limited (Zhao et al, 2013). However, the greatest benefits of changing from SF to CRF include not only increased profitability, but also reductions in the environmental pollution of crop production.…”