Reduction of Nitrogen Losses in Winter Wheat Grown on Light Soils

Abstract

Two 16-year-old series of experiments with winter wheat grown in rotation after winter oilseed rape were used in the study. The experiments were located in the cold temperate dry and moist climate zones on light soils. Wheat was fertilized with nitrogen in the doses of 40, 80, 120, 160, and 200 kg N·ha−1 per year. Through the several years of the experiment, critical N rates for maximum yield and gross margin from the linear-plus plateau regressions were 149 ± 23.9 and 112 ± 23.6 kg N·ha−1, respectively. The estimated nitrogen indicators for these doses were as follows: nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) 93 and 108%, N surplus (Ns) 6.8 and −10.1 kg·N·ha−1, yield-scaled Ns, N2O, and NH3 3.5 and −0.2; 0.35 and 0.30; 0.31 and 0.25 kg N·Mg−1, respectively. Experiments have shown that two strategies for reducing nitrogen losses on light soils under wheat cultivation are possible: by limiting the N dose to the critical values due to the yield requirements, or due to the gross margin. The analysis of the 11-year data for 2300 farm fields with winter wheat grown on light soils showed that only 10% of them were implementing the first strategy, and as much as 90% chose the second strategy.

Keywords

• wheat
• N rates
• NUE
• N surplus
• yield-scaled emissions
• N₂O