Work

Optimizing nitrogen application frequency to enhance the post‐flowering matter accumulation, yield and water/nitrogen use efficiency of densely planted and drip‐irrigated maize

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND Maize yield stability is crucial for China's national food security. Conventional irrigation and nitrogen application methods have problems like low yield, inefficiency and environmental pollution. Optimizing water/fertilizer management is therefore imperative. This study reports on a field experiment conducted in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia (2020–2021) that used ‘Dika 159’ maize grown at a density of 9.0 × 104 plants ha−1. Five nitrogen application frequencies were set up, 0 (F0), 2 (F2), 4 (F3), 6 (F4), 8 (F5) with drip irrigation, in addition to farmers’ one‐time basal and flood irrigation as the control (F1). RESULTS Compared that of F1, the leaf area index of F4 increased by 5.05% at the VT (silk emergence) stage and by 73.01% at the R6 (maturity) stage, and the maximum leaf area duration appeared at the VT‐R3 (silk emergence–milk ripening) stage. The frequency of nitrogen application mainly affected the post‐anthesis photosynthetic rate of maize. F4 and F1 did not differ significantly in their pre‐anthesis matter accumulation, but F4's post‐anthesis matter accumulation was significantly higher, the maximum dry matter accumulation rate of F4 being 94.44% higher than that of F1. The six‐time nitrogen application resulted in the optimum yield (15.82–16.06 t ha−1) and physiological nitrogen‐use efficiency (PNUE; 7.87–7.44 kg kg−1), and its water‐use efficiency (WUE) reached 2.10–2.14 kg m−3, raising the yield by 65.75–69.84%, enhancing the WUE by 62.12–62.79% and improving the PNUE by 29.23–40.11%. CONCLUSION A greater frequency of nitrogen application (six times) can prolong the functional period of maize leaves, slow leaf senescence, enhancing the post‐anthesis photosynthetic capacity of maize to bolster its post‐anthesis matter accumulation and kernel weight, improving the yield and water/fertilizer utilization rate. © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Source: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture

DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.14411