scholarly journals Crop production kept stable and sustainable with the decrease of nitrogen rate in North China Plain: An economic and environmental assessment over 8 years

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Liu ◽  
Ningning Yu ◽  
James J. Camberato ◽  
Jia Gao ◽  
Peng Liu ◽  
...  

AbstractIn pursuit of maximum grain yield farmers in the North China Plain usually apply excessive N fertilizer, resulting in wasted resources and environmental pollution. To assess the economic and environmental performances of different nitrogen rates will be conductive to sustain cleaner crop production. An 8-year field experiment was carried out with four treatments, N0 (0 kg ha−1 for winter wheat and summer maize), N1 (168 kg ha−1 for winter wheat and 129 kg ha−1 for summer maize), N2 (240 kg ha−1 for winter wheat and 185 kg ha−1 for summer maize) and N3 (300 kg ha−1 for winter wheat and summer maize), on the double cropping at Dawenkou research field (36°11’N, 117°06’E), Shandong Province, China. The crop production, soil physical-chemical parameters, and greenhouse gas emission are measured and the economic and environmental performances are assessed. The optimal nitrogen rate obtained the highest grain yield of summer maize in 4 of 8 year and was equivalent to conventional N rate in the other years. The nitrogen partial factor productivity and agronomic efficiency of optimal nitrogen rate was 63% and 58% higher than that of conventional nitrogen rate. The optimal nitrogen rate effectively decreased soil bulk density and increased weight percentage of water-stable aggregate and activities of urease and invertase compared to conventional nitrogen rate, which improved soil productivity. The fertilizer nitrogen loss and global warming potential of optimal nitrogen rate reduced by 76% and 35% compared to conventional nitrogen rate. The annual greenhouse gas intensity of optimal nitrogen rate decreased by 14–35% compared to others. The net ecosystem economic budget under optimal nitrogen rate is 252–604 $ ha−1 yr.−1 higher than other addition levels. The optimal nitrogen rate produces more grains and obtains higher economic and environmental benefits.

2017 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuechen Tan ◽  
Cong Xu ◽  
Dongxue Liu ◽  
Wenliang Wu ◽  
Rattan Lal ◽  
...  

Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shah Jahan Leghari ◽  
Kelin Hu ◽  
Hao Liang ◽  
Yichang Wei

The North China Plain (NCP) is experiencing serious groundwater level decline and groundwater nitrate contamination due to excessive water pumping and application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer. In this study, grain yield, water and N use efficiencies under different cropping systems including two harvests in 1 year (winter wheat–summer maize) based on farmer (2H1Y)FP and optimized practices (2H1Y)OPT, three harvests in 2 years (winter wheat–summer maize–spring maize, 3H2Y), and one harvest in 1 year (spring maize, 1H1Y) were evaluated using the water-heat-carbon-nitrogen simulator (WHCNS) model. The 2H1YFP system was maintained with 100% irrigation and fertilizer, while crop water requirement and N demand for other cropping systems were optimized and managed by soil testing. In addition, a scenario analysis was also performed under the interaction of linearly increasing and decreasing N rates, and irrigation levels. Results showed that the model performed well with simulated soil water content, soil N concentration, leaf area index, dry matter, and grain yield. Statistically acceptable ranges of root mean square error, Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency, index of agreement values close to 1, and strong correlation coefficients existed between simulated and observed values. We concluded that replacing the prevalent 2H1YFP with 1H1Y would be ecofriendly at the cost of some grain yield decline. This cropping system had the highest average water use (2.1 kg m−3) and N use efficiencies (4.8 kg kg–1) on reduced water (56.64%) and N (81.36%) inputs than 2H1YFP. Whereas 3H2Y showed insignificant results in terms of grain yield, and 2H1YFP was unsustainable. The 2H1YFP system consumed a total of 745 mm irrigation and 1100 kg N ha–1 in two years. When farming practices were optimized for two harvests in 1 year system (2H1Y)OPT, then grain yield improved and water (18.12%) plus N (61.82%) consumptions were minimized. There was an ample amount of N saved, but water conservation was still unsatisfactory. However, considering the results of scenario analyses, it is recommended that winter wheat would be cultivated at <200 mm irrigation by reducing one irrigation event.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingmin Chu ◽  
Yanjun Shen ◽  
Zaijian Yuan

Abstract. The North China Plain (NCP) is serious lack of fresh water resources, while crop production consumed about 75 % of the region's water. To estimate water consumption of different crops and crop structures in the NCP, the Hebei southern plain (HSP) was selected as a study area because it is a typical region of groundwater overdraft in the NCP. In this study, water footprint (WF) was being used which was consisted of green, blue and grey components. The results showed: (1) the WF of the main crops production was about 51.0 km3 in 2012 and winter wheat, vegetables and summer maize were in the top three leading among the main crops in the HSP, while the water footprint intensity (WFI) of cotton was the largest and vegetables were the smallest; (2) winter wheat and vegetables consumed the main groundwater and their blue water footprint (WFblue) accounted for 66.0 % of the total WFblue in the HSP; (3) the crop structure scenarios analysis indicated that, with about 20 % of arable land cultivating winter wheat-summer maize in rotation, 40 % spring maize, 10 % vegetables and 10 % fruiters can promote the sustainable utilization of groundwater resources, at the same time can ensure sufficient supply of food, vegetables and fruits in the HSP.


2018 ◽  
Vol 221 ◽  
pp. 219-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuexin Xu ◽  
Meng Zhang ◽  
Jinpeng Li ◽  
Zuqiang Liu ◽  
Zhigan Zhao ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (9) ◽  
pp. 772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su-Wei Feng ◽  
Zhen-Gang Ru ◽  
Wei-Hua Ding ◽  
Tie-Zhu Hu ◽  
Gan Li

Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production in the North China Plain (NCP) is threatened by wheat lodging. Therefore, enhancing plant lodging resistance by improving stem quality traits is crucial to maintaining high stable yields of winter wheat. A consecutive 7-year field experiment was conducted to study the effects of stem traits on lodging resistance and the yield of four winter wheat cultivars (Bainong 418, Aikang 58, Wenmai 6 and Zhoumai 18). The results indicated that rainfall is often accompanied by strong winds that can cause lodging in the field. Stalk bending strength and wall thickness of the second internode showed significant negative correlations with lodging index, and a higher lodging index indicated increased lodging risk, which, in turn, could seriously affect the grain yield of wheat. Significant regression relationships were observed between lodging index and population lodging resistance strength, as measured using a crop lodging resistance electronic measuring device. Statistical analysis revealed that yield components and the grain yield of Bainong 418 were higher than those of the other cultivars; there was no significant difference between Bainong 418 and Aikang 58 in lodging index, stalk bending strength or single-stalk and population lodging resistance strengths at anthesis and the middle filling stages, but the mean plant height of Bainong 418 was significantly higher than that of Aikang 58. These results provide a new and reliable method for assessing lodging resistance capacity and indicate that greater lodging resistance, as determined by simultaneously considering plant height and basal stem strength, is an important way to achieve high, stable yield in winter wheat.


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