IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v306y2024ics0378377424004967.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Appropriate water and nitrogen supply regulates the dynamics of nitrogen translocation and thereby enhancing the accumulation of nitrogen in maize grains

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Tingrui
  • Zhao, Jinghua
  • Hong, Ming
  • Ma, Mingjie

Abstract

To improve nitrogen uptake and grain quality in maize, this study explores the dynamic processes of nitrogen accumulation, distribution, and translocation under varying water and nitrogen supplies, aiming to optimize water-nitrogen management practices. Field trials were conducted in Karamay, Xinjiang, in 2022 and 2023, with different irrigation levels (75 % ETc, 100 % ETc, 125 % ETc) and nitrogen application rates (0, 93, 186, 279 kg Nhm−2). The effects of water and nitrogen supply on nitrogen accumulation and distribution in aboveground maize organs were analyzed, and the dynamic characteristics of maize nitrogen accumulation were examined using the characteristic parameters of the Richards nitrogen accumulation equation. The results showed that beyond the W2N2 treatment (irrigation at 100 % ETc and nitrogen application of 186 kg N hm−2), increases in irrigation and nitrogen did not significantly enhance nitrogen accumulation per plant. Under W2N2, high levels of nitrogen were accumulated in maize leaf, stem, bract, cob, and grain. The nitrogen transfer among different organs and their contribution to grain nitrogen showed the following hierarchy: leaf > stem > cob > bract, with the contribution rates to grain nitrogen ranging from 26.16 % to 56.23 % over the two years. The Richards model accurately quantified the dynamic relationship between water-nitrogen supply and crop nitrogen accumulation, with the coefficient of determination (R²) ranging from 0.9864 to 0.9999 and the normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) from 0.70 % to 6.51 %. Optimal water-nitrogen supply significantly reduced the accumulated temperature required for maize to enter the rapid nitrogen accumulation phase and achieve maximum growth rates, while extending the duration of the rapid growth phase and increasing both the maximum growth rate and the average growth rate during this period. Grain nitrogen accumulation was positively correlated with nitrogen accumulation rates, as well as nitrogen accumulation and translocation in various organs. Under suitable irrigation and nitrogen application, the interactive effects of water and nitrogen (W × N) significantly increased both nitrogen accumulation and nitrogen accumulation rates, laying a foundation for nitrogen translocation to grains in the late growth stages and enhancing grain nitrogen accumulation. Thus, appropriate water and nitrogen supply can significantly influence nitrogen accumulation, distribution, and translocation processes in maize, regulating grain nitrogen accumulation. This study provides valuable information for nitrogen accumulation regulation and grain quality improvement in maize in Xinjiang and other regions with similar climatic conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Tingrui & Zhao, Jinghua & Hong, Ming & Ma, Mingjie, 2024. "Appropriate water and nitrogen supply regulates the dynamics of nitrogen translocation and thereby enhancing the accumulation of nitrogen in maize grains," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:306:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424004967
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2024.109160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424004967
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2024.109160?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yan, Fulai & Zhang, Fucang & Fan, Xingke & Fan, Junliang & Wang, Ying & Zou, Haiyang & Wang, Haidong & Li, Guodong, 2021. "Determining irrigation amount and fertilization rate to simultaneously optimize grain yield, grain nitrogen accumulation and economic benefit of drip-fertigated spring maize in northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    2. Sepaskhah, Ali Reza & Fahandezh-Saadi, Saghar & Zand-Parsa, Shahrokh, 2011. "Logistic model application for prediction of maize yield under water and nitrogen management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 51-57.
    3. Qiang Ma & Chunming Jiang & Shuailin Li & Wantai Yu, 2021. "Maize yield and nitrogen-use characteristics were promoted as consistently improved soil fertility: 6-year straw incorporation in Northeast China," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 67(7), pages 383-389.
    4. Jia, Xucun & Shao, Lijie & Liu, Peng & Zhao, Bingqiang & Gu, Limin & Dong, Shuting & Bing, So Hwat & Zhang, Jiwang & Zhao, Bin, 2014. "Effect of different nitrogen and irrigation treatments on yield and nitrate leaching of summer maize (Zea mays L.) under lysimeter conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 92-103.
    5. Yang Yu & Chunrong Qian & Wanrong Gu & Caifeng Li, 2021. "Responses of Root Characteristic Parameters and Plant Dry Matter Accumulation, Distribution and Transportation to Nitrogen Levels for Spring Maize in Northeast China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Olaf Erenstein & Moti Jaleta & Kai Sonder & Khondoker Mottaleb & B.M. Prasanna, 2022. "Global maize production, consumption and trade: trends and R&D implications," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(5), pages 1295-1319, October.
    7. Muschietti-Piana, Maria del Pilar & Cipriotti, Pablo Ariel & Urricariet, Susana & Peralta, Nahuel Raul & Niborski, Mauricio, 2018. "Using site-specific nitrogen management in rainfed corn to reduce the risk of nitrate leaching," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 61-70.
    8. Wang, Yin & Zhang, Xinyue & Chen, Jian & Chen, Anji & Wang, Liying & Guo, Xiaoying & Niu, Yali & Liu, Shuoran & Mi, Guohua & Gao, Qiang, 2019. "Reducing basal nitrogen rate to improve maize seedling growth, water and nitrogen use efficiencies under drought stress by optimizing root morphology and distribution," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 328-337.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiao, Chao & Zou, Haiyang & Fan, Junliang & Zhang, Fucang & Li, Yi & Sun, Shikun & Pulatov, Alim, 2021. "Optimizing irrigation amount and fertilization rate of drip-fertigated spring maize in northwest China based on multi-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    2. Lu, Junsheng & Hu, Tiantian & Zhang, Baocheng & Wang, Li & Yang, Shuohuan & Fan, Junliang & Yan, Shicheng & Zhang, Fucang, 2021. "Nitrogen fertilizer management effects on soil nitrate leaching, grain yield and economic benefit of summer maize in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    3. Guo, Jinjin & Fan, Junliang & Xiang, Youzhen & Zhang, Fucang & Yan, Shicheng & Zhang, Xueyan & Zheng, Jing & Li, Yuepeng & Tang, Zijun & Li, Zhijun, 2022. "Coupling effects of irrigation amount and nitrogen fertilizer type on grain yield, water productivity and nitrogen use efficiency of drip-irrigated maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    4. Ning, Dongfeng & Chen, Haiqing & Qin, Anzhen & Gao, Yang & Zhang, Jiyang & Duan, Aiwang & Wang, Xingpeng & Liu, Zhandong, 2024. "Optimizing irrigation and N fertigation regimes achieved high yield and water productivity and low N leaching in a maize field in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    5. Péter Zagyi & Éva Horváth & Gyula Vasvári & Károly Simon & Adrienn Széles, 2024. "Effect of Split Basal Fertilisation and Top-Dressing on Relative Chlorophyll Content and Yield of Maize Hybrids," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Lai, Zhenlin & Fan, Junliang & Yang, Rui & Xu, Xinyu & Liu, Lanjiao & Li, Sien & Zhang, Fucang & Li, Zhijun, 2022. "Interactive effects of plant density and nitrogen rate on grain yield, economic benefit, water productivity and nitrogen use efficiency of drip-fertigated maize in northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    7. Ponieman, Karen D. & Bongiovanni, Rodolfo & Battaglia, Martin L. & Hilbert, Jorge A. & Cipriotti, Pablo A. & Espósito, Gabriel, 2023. "Site-specific calculation of corn bioethanol carbon footprint with Life Cycle Assessment," Agri-Tech Economics Papers 344397, Harper Adams University, Land, Farm & Agribusiness Management Department.
    8. Ponieman, Karen D. & Bongiovanni, Rodolfo & Battaglia, Martin L. & Hilbert, Jorge A. & Cipriotti, Pablo A. & Espósito, Gabriel, 2023. "Site-specific calculation of corn bioethanol carbon footprint with Life Cycle Assessment," Land, Farm & Agribusiness Management Department 344397, Harper Adams University, Land, Farm & Agribusiness Management Department.
    9. Wen, Shenglin & Cui, Ningbo & Wang, Yaosheng & Gong, Daozhi & Xing, Liwen & Wu, Zongjun & Zhang, Yixuan & Wang, Zhihui, 2024. "Determining effect of fertilization on reactive nitrogen losses through nitrate leaching and key influencing factors in Chinese agricultural systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    10. Li, Haoru & Li, Xiaoli & Mei, Xurong & Nangia, Vinay & Guo, Rui & Hao, Weiping & Wang, Jiandong, 2023. "An alternative water-fertilizer-saving management practice for wheat-maize cropping system in the North China Plain: Based on a 4-year field study," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    11. Zou, Haiyang & Fan, Junliang & Zhang, Fucang & Xiang, Youzhen & Wu, Lifeng & Yan, Shicheng, 2020. "Optimization of drip irrigation and fertilization regimes for high grain yield, crop water productivity and economic benefits of spring maize in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    12. Kamran, Muhammad & Yan, Zhengang & Chang, Shenghua & Ning, Jiao & Lou, Shanning & Ahmad, Irshad & Ghani, Muhammad Usman & Arif, Muhammad & El Sabagh, Ayman & Hou, Fujiang, 2023. "Interactive effects of reduced irrigation and nitrogen fertilization on resource use efficiency, forage nutritive quality, yield, and economic benefits of spring wheat in the arid region of Northwest ," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    13. Nandipamu, Tony Manoj Kumar & Chaturvedi, Sumit & Nayak, Prayasi & Dhyani, V.C. & Pachauri, S.P. & Shankhdhar, S.C. & Chandra, Subhash, 2025. "Energy-use audit and data envelopment analysis based optimization of tillage and residue management in rice-wheat system of Indo-Gangetic plains," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    14. José Augusto Correa Martins & Alberto Yoshiriki Hisano Higuti & Aiesca Oliveira Pellegrin & Raquel Soares Juliano & Adriana Mello de Araújo & Luiz Alberto Pellegrin & Veraldo Liesenberg & Ana Paula Ma, 2024. "Assessment of UAV-Based Deep Learning for Corn Crop Analysis in Midwest Brazil," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, November.
    15. Hao, Kun & Zhang, Wei & Zhu, Shijiang & Peng, Youliang & Zhong, Yun & Jie, Feilong & Liu, Lihua & Gao, Yalin & Zhou, Lin & Liu, Chuang & Shen, Fangyuan, 2025. "Alternate partial root-zone irrigation combined with nitrogen fertilizer: An adaptive surge root irrigation and nitrogen strategy to improve apple yield, water-nitrogen use efficiency and fruit qualit," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    16. Chengkai Yang & Jingkai Lei & Zhihao Liu & Shufeng Xiong & Lei Xi & Jian Wang & Hongbo Qiao & Lei Shi, 2025. "Estimation Model of Corn Leaf Area Index Based on Improved CNN," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.
    17. Singh, Pritpal & Singh, Gurdeep & Sodhi, G.P.S., 2019. "Energy auditing and optimization approach for improving energy efficiency of rice cultivation in south-western Punjab, India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 269-279.
    18. Lu, Junsheng & Hu, Tiantian & Geng, Chenming & Cui, Xiaolu & Fan, Junliang & Zhang, Fucang, 2021. "Response of yield, yield components and water-nitrogen use efficiency of winter wheat to different drip fertigation regimes in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    19. Lekarkar, Katoria & Nkwasa, Albert & Villani, Lorenzo & van Griensven, Ann, 2024. "Localizing agricultural impacts of 21st century climate pathways in data scarce catchments: A case study of the Nyando catchment, Kenya," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    20. Buttinelli, Rebecca & Cortignani, Raffaele & Caracciolo, Francesco, 2024. "Irrigation water economic value and productivity: An econometric estimation for maize grain production in Italy," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:306:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424004967. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.