Journal
FIELD CROPS RESEARCH
Volume 159, Issue -, Pages 33-42Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.fcr.2013.12.007
Keywords
Wheat; Critical nitrogen concentration; Leaf dry matter; Dilution curve; Nitrogen nutrition index; Nitrogen fertilizer
Categories
Funding
- National High-Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) [2011AA100703, 2013AA102404]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31201130, 31201131]
- Special Program for Agriculture Science and Technology from Ministry of Agriculture in China [201303109]
- Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (PAPD)
- Science and Technology Support Plan of Jiangsu Province [BE2011351, BE2012302]
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Accurate measurement of the nitrogen (N) required for plant growth helps optimize grain yield, farm profits, and N-use efficiency. Critical nitrogen (N-c) curves have been developed to describe N dilution in plant tissues during crop growth and to estimate the N status of whole plants; however, N-c curves for leaves have yet to be constructed. We constructed and validated a leaf N-c curve for winter wheat based on leaf dry matter (LDM) and compared it with published whole-plant N-c curves to explore the potential for estimating leaf N status of winter wheat in eastern China. Four field experiments were conducted using a range of N fertilization levels (0-375 kg ha(-1)) applied to six wheat cultivars in eastern China. For our growth analyses, we determined LDM and leaf N concentration (LNC) in the developmental phases from spring regrowth to heading. The leaf N-c curve fit the following relationship: N-c =3.05LDM(-0.15) when LDM ranged from 0.52 to 2.64 t ha(-1). However, when LDM was <0.52 t ha(-1), we applied a constant leaf critical value of 3.37%. The curve we constructed was lower than the reference whole-plant N-c curve. The N nutrition index (NNI) ranged from 0.34 to 1.31 during the vegetative stage across the 2009-2011 seasons. There was a significant positive relationship between the difference values of NNI (Delta NNI) and N (Delta N) applications over the four wheat developmental stages. We obtained a root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) of 24.53 kg ha(-1) between the predicted and observed Delta N values when testing the models with independent data. The leaf N-c dilution curve correctly identified N-limiting and non-N-limiting statuses and may be used as a reliable indicator of N stress during the growing season of winter wheat in eastern China. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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