Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T14:48:58.215Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

GRAIN YIELD AND NITROGEN UTILIZATION IN RESPONSE TO REDUCING NITROGEN RATE IN HYBRID RICE TRANSPLANTED AS SINGLE SEEDLINGS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2018

MIN HUANG*
Affiliation:
Southern Regional Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain and Oil Crops (CICGO), Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China International Programs-College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (IP-CALS), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
SHUANGLÜ SHAN
Affiliation:
Southern Regional Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain and Oil Crops (CICGO), Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
XIAOBING XIE
Affiliation:
Southern Regional Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain and Oil Crops (CICGO), Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
XUEFENG ZHOU
Affiliation:
Southern Regional Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain and Oil Crops (CICGO), Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
YINGBIN ZOU
Affiliation:
Southern Regional Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain and Oil Crops (CICGO), Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
NORMAN UPHOFF
Affiliation:
International Programs-College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (IP-CALS), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
*
§Corresponding author. Email: mhuang@hunau.edu.cn; mh2426@cornell.edu

Summary

Transplanting single seedlings rather than seedlings in clumps has been increasingly attractive in hybrid rice production in China due to reduced seed requirements and higher grain yield. This study was conducted to determine grain yield and nitrogen (N) utilization in response to reductions in the N rate in hybrid rice under single-seedling transplanting. Field experiments were done in 2015 and 2016 on a moderate to high fertility soil at the Experimental Farm of Hunan Agricultural University, China. The hybrid rice cultivar Liangyoupeijiu (LYPJ) was used in 2015, and two hybrid cultivars LYPJ and Xiangliangyou 900 were used the next year. In each year, the rice plants transplanted with a single seedling per hill were grown with three N rates, including the usual N rate (150 kg ha–1) and two reduced N rates (120 and 90 kg ha–1). Grain yield, yield attributes, and N uptake and use efficiency were determined for each N rate. Significant reduction in grain yield was observed in only one of three cultivar-year combinations when N rate was reduced by 20% (from 150 to 120 kg ha–1), and the magnitude of yield reduction was only 4%. Although significant reduction in grain yield was observed in two of the three cultivar-year combinations when N rate reduced by 40% (to 90 kg ha–1), the highest yield reduction was only 7%. Yield attributes were generally changed slightly when N rate was reduced by 20%, while compensation among yield attributes and N utilization characteristics could explain why a 40% reduction in N rate did not result in substantial yield loss. Partial factor productivity of applied N (PFPN) was increased by 21–24% and 56–63% with 20% and 40% reductions in the N rate, respectively. The higher PFPN with a reduced N rate was attributed to higher recovery efficiency of applied N (REN) or to both higher REN and internal N use efficiency. Our study suggests that reducing N rate does not necessarily result in yield loss due to compensation among yield components and increased N use efficiency in hybrid rice transplanted as single seedlings under moderate to high soil fertility conditions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Cassman, K. G., Dobermann, A., Walters, D. T. and Yang, H. (2003). Meeting cereal demand while protecting natural resources and improving environmental quality. Annual Review of Environmental Research 28:315358.Google Scholar
Chen, X., Cui, Z., Fan, M., Vitousek, P., Zhao, M., Ma, W., Wang, Z., Zhang, W., Yan, X., Yang, J., Deng, X., Gao, Q., Zhang, Q., Gui, S., Ren, J., Li, S., Ye, Y., Wang, Z., Huang, J., Tang, Q., Sun, Y., Peng, X., Zhang, J., He, M., Zhu, Y., Xue, J., Wang, G., Wu, L., An, N., Wu, L., Ma, L., Zhang, W. and Zhang, F. (2014). Producing more grain with lower environmental costs. Nature 514:486489.Google Scholar
Fan, M., Shen, J., Yuan, L., Jiang, R., Chen, X., Davies, W. J. and Zhang, F. (2011). Improving crop productivity and resource use efficiency to ensure food security and environmental quality in China. Journal of Experimental Botany 63:1324.Google Scholar
Guo, J. H., Liu, X. J., Zhang, Y., Shen, J. L., Han, W. X., Zhang, W. F., Christie, P., Goulding, K. W. T., Vitousek, P. M. and Zhang, F. S. (2010). Significant acidification in major Chinese croplands. Science 327:10081010.Google Scholar
Hsiaoping, C. (2005). Rice consumption in China: Can China change rice consumption from quantity to quality? In Rice is Life: Scientific Perspectives for the 21st Century, 497499 (Eds Toriyama, K., Heong, K. L. and Hardy, B.). Los Baños, The Philippines: International Rice Research Institute.Google Scholar
Huang, J., He, F., Cui, K., Buresh, R. J., Xu, B., Gong, W. and Peng, S. (2008). Determination of optimal nitrogen rate for rice varieties using a chlorophyll meter. Field Crops Research 105:7080.Google Scholar
Huang, M., Jiang, P., Shan, S., Gao, W., Ma, G., Zou, Y., Uphoff, N. and Yuan, L. (2017). Higher yields of hybrid rice do not depend on nitrogen fertilization under moderate to high soil fertility conditions. Rice 10:43.Google Scholar
Huang, M., Shan, S., Xie, X., Cao, F. and Zou, Y. (2018). Why high grain yield can be achieved in single seedling machine-transplanted hybrid rice under dense planting conditions. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 17:12991306.Google Scholar
Huang, M., Shan, S., Zhou, X., Chen, J., Cao, F., Jiang, L. and Zou, Y. (2016). Leaf photosynthetic performance related higher radiation use efficiency and grain yield in hybrid rice. Field Crops Research 193:8793.Google Scholar
Huang, M., Yang, L., Qin, H., Jiang, L. and Zou, Y. (2014). Fertilizer nitrogen uptake by rice increased by biochar application. Biology and Fertility of Soils 50:9971000.Google Scholar
Huang, M., Zou, Y., Feng, Y., Cheng, Z., Mo, Y., Ibrahim, Md., Xia, B. and Jiang, P. (2011). No-tillage and direct seeding for super hybrid rice production in rice-oilseed rape cropping system. European Journal of Agronomy 34:278286.Google Scholar
Huang, M., Zou, Y., Jiang, P., Xia, B. and Xiao, A. (2012). Performance of super hybrid rice cultivars grown under no-tillage and direct seeding. Scientia Agricola 69:103107.Google Scholar
Jiang, P., Xie, X., Huang, M., Zhou, X., Zhang, R., Chen, J., Wu, D., Xia, B., Xiong, H., Xu, F. and Zou, Y. (2016). Characterizing N uptake and use efficiency in rice as influenced by environments. Plant Production Science 19:96104.Google Scholar
Le, C., Zha, Y., Li, Y., Sun, D., Lu, H. and Yin, B. (2010). Eutrophication of lake waters in China: Cost, causes, and control. Environmental Management 45:662668.Google Scholar
Liu, X., Zhang, Y., Han, W., Tang, A., Shen, J., Cui, Z., Vitousek, P., Erisman, J. W., Goulding, K., Christie, P., Fangmeier, A. and Zhang, F. (2013). Enhanced nitrogen deposition over China. Nature 494:459462.Google Scholar
, C. G. and Zou, J. S. (2003). Comparative analysis on rice plant type of two super hybrids and Shanyou 63. Agricultural Sciences in China 2:513520.Google Scholar
Lu, X., Zhang, Z., Virmani, S. S. and Maruyama, K. (1994). Current status of two-line method of hybrid rice breeding. Chinese Journal of Rice Science 8:4854.Google Scholar
Peng, S. (2016). Dilemma and way-out of hybrid rice during the transition period in China. Acta Agronomica Sinica 42:313319. (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Peng, S., Buresh, R.J., Huang, J., Yang, J., Zou, Y., Zhong, X., Wang, G. and Zhang, F. (2006). Strategies for overcoming low agronomic nitrogen use efficiency in irrigated rice systems in China. Field Crops Research 96:3747.Google Scholar
Peng, S., Huang, J., Zhong, X., Yang, J., Wang, G., Zou, Y., Zhang, F., Zhu, Q., Buresh, R. and Witt, C. (2002). Challenge and opportunity in improving fertilizer-nitrogen use efficiency of irrigated rice in China. Agricultural Sciences in China 1:776785.Google Scholar
Peng, S., Tang, Q. and Zou, Y. (2009). Current status and challenges of rice production in China. Plant Production Science 12:38.Google Scholar
Stoop, W. A., Uphoff, N. and Kassam, A. (2002). A review of agricultural research issues raised by the system of rice intensification (SRI) from Madagascar: Opportunities for improving farming systems for resource-poor farmers. Agricultural Systems 71:249274.Google Scholar
Thakur, A. K., Uphoff, N. and Antony, E. (2010). An assessment of physiological effects of system of rice intensification (SRI) practices compared with recommended rice cultivation practices in India. Experimental Agriculture 46:7798.Google Scholar
Thakur, A. K., Uphoff, N. T. and Stoop, W. A. (2016). Scientific underpinnings of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI): What is known so far? Advance in Agronomy 135:147179.Google Scholar
Yan, D., Wang, D., Sun, R. and Lin, J. (2006). N mineralization as affected by long-term N fertilization and its relationship with crop N uptake. Pedosphere 16:125130.Google Scholar
Yang, J. (2015). Approaches to achieve high grain yield and high resource use efficiency in rice. Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering 12:115123.Google Scholar
Yuan, L. P. (1994). Increasing yield potential in rice by exploitation of heterosis. In Hybrid Rice Technology, New Developments and Future Prospects, 16 (Eds Virmani, S. S.). Los Baños, The Philippines: International Rice Research Institute.Google Scholar
Yuan, S., Nie, L., Wang, F., Huang, J. and Peng, S. (2017). Agronomic performance of inbred and hybrid rice cultivars under simplified and reduced-input practices. Field Crops Research 210:129135.Google Scholar
Zhong, X., Peng, S., Sheehy, J. E., Visperas, R. M. and Liu, H. (2002). Relationship between tillering and leaf area index: Quantifying critical leaf area index for tillering inrice. Journal of Agricultural Science 138:269279.Google Scholar
Zhu, X., Zhang, J., Zhang, Z., Deng, A. and Zhang, W. (2016). Dense planting with less basal nitrogen fertilization might benefit rice cropping for high yield with less environmental impacts. European Journal of Agronomy 75:5059.Google Scholar