Welcome to Acta Prataculturae Sinica ! Today is Share:

Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2014, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (5): 13-23.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb20140502

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Nitrogen dynamics under plastic mulching on the Loess Plateau

QI Jing-hua1,ZHANG Feng1,WANG Ying2,SUN Guo-jun1   

  1. 1.School of Life Sciences, Agroecology Institute of Lanzhou University, More Key Laboratory of Arid and Grassland Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China;
    2.Key Laboratory of Arid Climatic Change and Reducing Disaster of Gansu Province, Key Open Laboratory of Arid Change and Disaster Reduction of China Meteorological Administration,Institute of Arid Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration,Lanzhou 730020, China
  • Received:2013-10-22 Online:2014-10-20 Published:2014-10-20

Abstract:

Plastic mulch is often used in maize production systems on the Loess Plateau. The effect of plastic mulch on plant and soil nitrogen (N) (inorganic and total N) of maize in semi-arid farmland was investigated in a field experiment. There were two mulching treatments; mulching and no mulching. No fertilizer N was applied to any plots. The trial was a randomized block design with 3 replicates. The results showed that: 1) Soil NO3--N increased as the season progressed with little mulch effect on seasonal variation. 2) No mulching resulted in more N allocated to the vegetative organs at physiological maturity compared to mulched, whereas the mulched treatment resulted in more N being transferred from the vegetative organs to the grains during the grain filling period. 3) Mulching increased soil moisture. During the grain filling period the total N content of the aerial parts of the plants were closely related to soil N status. It is concluded that mulching significantly improved the yield and nutritional quality of maize.

CLC Number: