Work

Effects of different water and nitrogen on nitrate distribution and leaching in soil, nitrogen uptake, utilization and translocation by winter wheat

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: To improve crop yield, excessive nitrogen in agricultural production has become increasingly important in recent years. Excessive nitrogen increases soil nitrate-N accumulation and water pollution, and soil nitrate-N leaching varies with precipitation year. It is of great significance to clarify the fertilizer management in different pre-sowing stored soil water types to alleviate the problems of resource waste and groundwater pollution caused by unreasonable nitrogen. A 2-yr experiment was carried out in a mobile rain shelter using a split-split plot design that included three pre-sowing stored soil waters (S1: 350 mm, S2: 450 mm, and S3: 650 mm) as main plots, and four nitrogen rates (N0: 0, N105: 105 kg ha-1, N210: 210 kg ha-1, and N315: 315 kg ha-1) as subplots and four supplemental waters (W0: 0 mm, W1: 56.3 mm, W2: 78.1mm, and W3: 100 mm) as sub-subplots to analyze the effects of supplemental water and nitrogen rate on the soil NO3--N distribution and leaching, nitrogen uptake, utilization and grain yield of wheat in different pre-sowing stored soil water types. The results showed that supplemental water and nitrogen rates increased grain yield, nitrogen content in different organs and soil NO3--N leaching, but this effect was affected by pre-sowing stored soil water. The plants at N105W3 and N210W3 showed significant (p < 0.05) difference in yield in S1, and no significant difference in yield in S2 and S3. The NO3--N content decreased with increasing soil depth, and the NO3--N content in each soil layer increased with increasing nitrogen rate. Supplemental water and nitrogen rate increased nitrogen accumulation in vegetative organs at anthesis and nitrogen transport to grains. Compared with those of the plants at N210W3, nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUPE), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), nitrogen harvest index (NHI) and nitrogen recovery rate (NRR) at N105W3 increased by 160.3%, 11.6%, 3.4% and 251.0%, respectively in S1, and by 76.0%, 8.8%, 0.9% and 24.8%, respectively in S2. Compared with N210W2, NUPE, NUE, NHI and NRR at N105W2 increased by 59.4%, 16.4%, 2.2% and 20.9%, respectively, in S3. Therefore, according to the regression analysis, N105 combined with W3 in S1, N162 combined with W3 in S2 and N168 combined with W2 in S3 can improve NUEs and reduce the risk of soil NO3--N leaching to ensure stable crop yield and provide a theoretical support for water and nitrogen management of winter wheat in the drylands in the North of China.

Source: European Journal of Agronomy

DOI: 10.1016/j.eja.2026.128089

Authors: Weina Xu, Baoping Yang, Zhikuan Jia, Wenting Han

Institution: Northwest A&F University

Language: English

Topic: Agricultural Science and Fertilization

Subfield: Soil Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDGs: Zero hunger, Clean water and sanitation

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,200