scholarly journals Evaluation of the Regional-Scale Optimal K Rate Based on Sustainable Apple Yield and High-Efficiency K Use in Loess Plateau and Bohai Bay of China: A Meta-Analysis

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1368
Author(s):  
Wenzheng Tang ◽  
Wene Wang ◽  
Dianyu Chen ◽  
Ningbo Cui ◽  
Haosheng Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Bohai Bay ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
Relationship Model

In order to meet the growing food demand of the global population and maintain sustainable soil fertility, there is an urgent need to optimize fertilizer application amount in agricultural production practices. Most of the existing studies on the optimal K rates for apple orchards were based on case studies and lack information on optimizing K-fertilizer management on a regional scale. Here, we used the method of combining meta-analysis with the K application rate-yield relationship model to quantify and summarize the optimal K rates of the Loess Plateau and Bohai Bay regions in China. We built a dataset based on 159 observations obtained from 18 peer-reviewed literature studies distributed in 15 different research sites and evaluated the regional-scale optimal K rates for apple production. The results showed that the linear plus platform model was more suitable for estimating the regional-scale optimal K rates, which were 208.33 and 176.61 kg K ha−1 for the Loess Plateau and Bohai Bay regions of China, respectively. Compared with high K application rates, the optimal K rates increased K use efficiency by 45.88–68.57%, with almost no yield losses. The optimal K rates also enhanced the yield by 6.30% compared with the low K application rates.

scholarly journals Quantifying N2O emissions from intensive grassland production: the role of synthetic fertilizer type, application rate, timing and nitrification inhibitors

2016 ◽  
Vol 154 (5) ◽  
pp. 812-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. BELL ◽  
J. M. CLOY ◽  
C. F. E. TOPP ◽  
B. C. BALL ◽  
A. BAGNALL ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽  
Mineral Fertilizers ◽  
Urea Fertilizer ◽  
Mitigation Options ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ipcc Default

SUMMARYIncreasing recognition of the extent to which nitrous oxide (N2O) contributes to climate change has resulted in greater demand to improve quantification of N2O emissions, identify emission sources and suggest mitigation options. Agriculture is by far the largest source and grasslands, occupying c. 0·22 of European agricultural land, are a major land-use within this sector. The application of mineral fertilizers to optimize pasture yields is a major source of N2O and with increasing pressure to increase agricultural productivity, options to quantify and reduce emissions whilst maintaining sufficient grassland for a given intensity of production are required. Identification of the source and extent of emissions will help to improve reporting in national inventories, with the most common approach using the IPCC emission factor (EF) default, where 0·01 of added nitrogen fertilizer is assumed to be emitted directly as N2O. The current experiment aimed to establish the suitability of applying this EF to fertilized Scottish grasslands and to identify variation in the EF depending on the application rate of ammonium nitrate (AN). Mitigation options to reduce N2O emissions were also investigated, including the use of urea fertilizer in place of AN, addition of a nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) and application of AN in smaller, more frequent doses. Nitrous oxide emissions were measured from a cut grassland in south-west Scotland from March 2011 to March 2012. Grass yield was also measured to establish the impact of mitigation options on grass production, along with soil and environmental variables to improve understanding of the controls on N2O emissions. A monotonic increase in annual cumulative N2O emissions was observed with increasing AN application rate. Emission factors ranging from 1·06–1·34% were measured for AN application rates between 80 and 320 kg N/ha, with a mean of 1·19%. A lack of any significant difference between these EFs indicates that use of a uniform EF is suitable over these application rates. The mean EF of 1·19% exceeds the IPCC default 1%, suggesting that use of the default value may underestimate emissions of AN-fertilizer-induced N2O loss from Scottish grasslands. The increase in emissions beyond an application rate of 320 kg N/ha produced an EF of 1·74%, significantly different to that from lower application rates and much greater than the 1% default. An EF of 0·89% for urea fertilizer and 0·59% for urea with DCD suggests that N2O quantification using the IPCC default EF will overestimate emissions for grasslands where these fertilizers are applied. Large rainfall shortly after fertilizer application appears to be the main trigger for N2O emissions, thus applicability of the 1% EF could vary and depend on the weather conditions at the time of fertilizer application.

scholarly journals Hydrologic feasibility of artificial forestation in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 2519-2530 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. T. Jin ◽  
B. J. Fu ◽  
G. H. Liu ◽  
Z. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Mean Annual Precipitation ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Semi Arid

Abstract. Hydrologic viability, in terms of moisture availability, is fundamental to ecosystem sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, we examine the spatial distribution and after-planting variations of soil moisture content (SMC) in black locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) plantings in the Loess Plateau of China at a regional scale. Thirty sites (5 to 45 yr old) were selected, spanning an area of 300 km by 190 km in the northern region of the Shaanxi Province. The SMC was measured to a depth of 100 cm at intervals of 10 cm. Geographical, topographic and vegetation information was recorded, and soil organic matter was evaluated. The results show that, at the regional scale, SMC spatial variability was most highly correlated with rainfall. The negative relationship between the SMC at a depth of 20–50 cm and the stand age was stronger than at other depths, although this relationship was not significant at a 5 % level. Watershed analysis shows that the after-planting SMC variation differed depending upon precipitation. The SMC of plantings in areas receiving sufficient precipitation (e.g., mean annual precipitation (MAP) of 617 mm) may increase with stand age due to improvements in soil water-holding capacity and water-retention abilities after planting. For areas experiencing water shortages (e.g., MAP = 509 mm), evapotranspiration may cause planting soils to dry within the first 20 yr of growth. It is expected that, as arid and semi-arid plantings age, evapotranspiration will decrease, and the soil profile may gradually recover. In extremely dry areas (e.g., MAP = 352 mm), the variation in after-planting SMC with stand age was found to be negligible. The MAP can be used as an index to divide the study area into different ecological regions. Afforestation may sequentially exert positive, negative and negligible effects on SMCs with a decrease in the MAP. Therefore, future restoration measures should correspond to the local climate conditions, and the MAP should be a major consideration for the Loess Plateau. Large-scale and long-term research on the effects of restoration projects on SMCs is needed to support more effective restoration policies. The interaction between afforestation and local environmental conditions, particularly water availability to plants, should be taken into account in afforestation campaigns in arid and semi-arid areas.

scholarly journals Changing Fertilizer Management Practices in Sugarcane Production: Cane Grower Survey Insights

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syezlin Hasan ◽  
James C. R. Smart ◽  
Rachel Hay ◽  
Sharyn Rundle-Thiele
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Practice Change ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Fertilizer Management ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
Fertilizer Application Rate ◽  
The Impact

Research focused on understanding wider systemic factors driving behavioral change is limited with a dominant focus on the role of individual farmer and psychosocial factors for farming practice change, including reducing fertilizer application in agriculture. Adopting a wider systems perspective, the current study examines change and the role that supporting services have on fertilizer application rate change. A total of 238 sugarcane growers completed surveys reporting on changes in fertilizer application along with factors that may explain behavior change. Logistic regressions and negative binomial count-data regressions were used to examine whether farmers had changed fertilizer application rates and if they had, how long ago they made the change, and to explore the impact of individual and system factors in influencing change. Approximately one in three sugarcane growers surveyed (37%) had changed the method they used to calculate fertilizer application rates for the cane land they owned/managed at some point. Logistic regression results indicated growers were less likely to change the basis for their fertilizer calculation if they regarded maintaining good relationships with other local growers as being extremely important, they had another source of off-farm income, and if they had not attended a government-funded fertilizer management workshop in the five years preceding the survey. Similar drivers promoted early adoption of fertilizer practice change; namely, regarding family traditions and heritage as being unimportant, having sole decision-making authority on farming activities and having attended up to 5 workshops in the five years prior to completing the survey. Results demonstrated the influence of government-funded services to support practice change.

scholarly journals Optimizing Planting Method and Fertilizer Application Rate for Producing High Quality Nursery of Onion cv. Phulkara

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Ziaf ◽  
Haider ◽  
Malik ◽  
Anwar ◽  
Riaz
Keyword(s):  
Ground Surface ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Plant Population ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Planting Methods ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
Fertilizer Application Rate ◽  
Raised Bed ◽  
Planting Method

Onion (Allium cepa L.), locally famous as “Piaz”, occupies a prominent place among commercial crops of Pakistan, by supplementing the income of small/marginal land-hold farmers. One of the major constraints of onion farming in Pakistan is poor nursery due to adoption of traditional planting methods and overfertilization, which ultimately increases cost of production and loss of resources. The current study, comprised of two experiments, was carried out at Vegetable Area, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, to determine the most suitable nursery raising system and fertilizer application rate for onion nursery in order to get maximum plant population of good quality seedlings. The first experiment comprised of four different nursery growing methods: (1) flat bed + broadcast sowing, (2) flat bed + line sowing, (3) raised bed (6 inches height from ground surface) + broadcast sowing, and (4) raised bed + line sowing. The largest plant population, and highest plant fresh and dry weights were obtained on flat beds under line sowing. The smallest plant population was obtained on raised beds under broadcast sowing, however, the lowest fresh and dry weights of seedlings were found with flat beds under broadcast sowing. The second experiment comprised of three diammonium phosphate (DAP) application rates (50 g, 100 g and 150 g per 272.25 ft−2 applied at one-week interval) and a control. The maximum shoot and root lengths as well as fresh and dry weights were obtained with 100 g DAP 272 ft−2. In conclusion, line sowing on flat beds and application of 100g DAP 272 ft−2 at one-week interval produced high quality nursery of onion cv. Phulkara. But, flat bed system must be coupled with proper drainage to avoid excessive water due to frequent rainfall in tropical areas.

scholarly journals A universal multifractal approach to assessment of spatiotemporal extreme precipitation over the Loess Plateau of China

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 809-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjun Zhang ◽  
Guangyao Gao ◽  
Bojie Fu ◽  
Cong Wang ◽  
Hoshin V. Gupta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
East Asian Monsoon ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Atmospheric Circulation Patterns ◽  
External Agent ◽  
Daily Data ◽  
Formal Framework

Abstract. Extreme precipitation (EP) is a major external agent driving various natural hazards in the Loess Plateau (LP), China. However, the characteristics of the spatiotemporal EP responsible for such hazardous situations remain poorly understood. We integrate universal multifractals with a segmentation algorithm to characterize a physically meaningful threshold for EP (EPT). Using daily data from 1961 to 2015, we investigate the spatiotemporal variation of EP over the LP. Our results indicate that (with precipitation increasing) EPTs range from 17.3 to 50.3 mm d−1, while the mean annual EP increases from 35 to 138 mm from the northwestern to the southeastern LP. Further, historically, the EP frequency (EPF) has spatially varied from 54 to 116 d, with the highest EPF occurring in the mid-southern and southeastern LP where precipitation is much more abundant. However, EP intensities tend to be strongest in the central LP, where precipitation also tends to be scarce, and get progressively weaker as we move towards the margins (similarly to EP severity). An examination of atmospheric circulation patterns indicates that the central LP is the inland boundary with respect to the reach and impact of tropical cyclones in China, resulting in the highest EP intensities and EP severities being observed in this area. Under the control of the East Asian monsoon, precipitation from June to September accounts for 72 % of the total amount, and 91 % of the total EP events are concentrated between June and August. Further, EP events occur, on average, 11 d earlier than the wettest part of the season. These phenomena are responsible for the most serious natural hazards in the LP, especially in the central LP region. Spatiotemporally, 91.4 % of the LP has experienced a downward trend in precipitation, whereas 62.1 % of the area has experienced upward trends in the EP indices, indicating the potential risk of more serious hazardous situations. The universal multifractal approach considers the physical processes and probability distribution of precipitation, thereby providing a formal framework for spatiotemporal EP assessment at the regional scale.

scholarly journals Does Anthropogenic Land Use Change Play a Role in Changes of Precipitation Frequency and Intensity over the Loess Plateau of China?

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengjia Liu ◽  
Yansui Liu
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Precipitation Frequency ◽  
Intensity Changes ◽  
Vegetation Cover Change

Human transformation of landscapes is pervasive and accelerating across the Earth. However, existing studies have not provided a comprehensive picture of how precipitation frequency and intensity respond to vegetation cover change. Therefore, this study took the Loess Plateau as a typical example, and used satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data and daily gridded climatic variables to assess the responses of precipitation dynamics to human-induced vegetation cover change. Results showed that the total precipitation amount exhibited little change at the regional scale, showing an upward but statistically insignificant (p > 0.05) trend of 7.6 mm/decade in the period 1982–2015. However, the frequency of precipitation with different intensities showed large variations over most of the Loess Plateau. The number of rainy days (light, moderate, heavy, very heavy and severe precipitation) increased in response to increased vegetation cover, especially in the central-eastern Loess Plateau. Anthropogenic land cover change is largely responsible for precipitation intensity changes. Additionally, this study also observed high spatially explicit heterogeneity in different precipitation intensities in response to vegetation cover change across the Loess Plateau. These findings provide some reference information for our understanding of precipitation frequency and intensity changes in response to regional vegetation cover change in the Loess Plateau.

When does plastic-film mulching yield more for dryland maize in the Loess Plateau of China? A meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. 106290
Author(s):  
Naijiang Wang ◽  
Dianyuan Ding ◽  
Robert W. Malone ◽  
Haixin Chen ◽  
Yongsheng Wei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Plastic Film ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Plastic Film Mulching ◽  
Film Mulching

Effect of fertilizer rate and form on the recovery of 15N-labelled fertilizer applied to wheat in Syria

1997 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. PILBEAM ◽  
A.M. McNEILL ◽  
H. C. HARRIS ◽  
R. S. SWIFT
Keyword(s):  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
N Fertilization ◽  
N Fertilizer ◽  
Organic N ◽  
Inorganic N ◽  
Fertilizer Rate ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Added Nitrogen Interaction

15N-labelled fertilizer was applied at different rates (0, 30, 60, 90 kg N ha−1) and in different forms (urea or ammonium sulphate) to wheat grown in Syria in three seasons (1991/92, 1992/93 and 1994/95).Recovery of 15N-labelled fertilizer in the above-ground crop at harvest was low (8–22%), with the amount of 15N-labelled fertilizer recovered in the crop increasing as the rate of application increased. Fertilizer application caused a significant increase in the amount of unlabelled soil N in the crop, suggesting that the application of N fertilizer caused a ‘real’ added nitrogen interaction. Recovery of 15N-labelled fertilizer in the crop was unaffected by the form of the fertilizer.On average 31% (14–54%) of the 15N-labelled fertilizer remained in the soil at harvest, mostly in the 0–20 cm layer. At the lowest application rate (30 kg N ha−1) most of the residual fertilizer was as organic N, but at the higher application rates (60 and 90 kg N ha−1), a greater proportion of the 15N-labelled fertilizer was recovered as inorganic N, presumably as the result of top-dressing N in dry conditions in the spring. The amount of 15N-labelled fertilizer remaining in the soil increased as the fertilizer rate increased, but was unaffected by the form of fertilizer applied.Losses of 15N-labelled fertilizer were large (>35%), probably caused by gaseous losses, either through volatilization of N from the calcareous soil, or through denitrification from wet soils rich in organic residues.N fertilization strategies in the West Asia/North Africa (WANA) region should take note of the low recovery of N fertilizer by the crop in the season of application, and the resultant large quantities of residual fertilizer.

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