Field Crops Research 216 (2018) 225–233

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Field Crops Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fcr

Evaluation of optimal nitrogen rate for corn production under mulched drip T

fertigation and economic benefits

a a, a,b a c
Dan Wang , Guangyong Li , Yan Mo , Mingkun Cai , Xinyang Bian
a College of Water Resources & Civil Engineering, China Agriculture University, Beijing 100083, China
b Department of Irrigation and Drainage, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100091, China
c Water-saving and Equipment Limited Company of Kingland Muhe, Chifeng 024000, China

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Field experiments were conducted in Chifeng of Inner Mongolia, China, in 2015 and 2016 to explore the po-tential of
Mulched drip fertigation mulched drip fertigation (MDF) to improve yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) for corn. Six nitrogen (N) application
Corn −1
levels under MDF were set: 0, 140, 190, 240, 290 and 340 kg ha (i.e., MDFN0, MDFN140, MDFN190, MDFN240,
Nitrogen rate MDFN290 and MDFN340), and a treatment under conventional furrow fer-tilization (CFN340) was added as control. The
Nitrogen use efficiency
dynamic changes in soil nitrate N (NO 3–N) residual and plant N uptake (NU) during corn growing season, the responses of
Soil nitrate residual
NUE to N fertilizer supply and corresponding eco-nomic benefits were analyzed in this study. These tasks aimed to establish
Economic benefit −1
the optimal N rate under MDF, in particular to compare the widely used N rate of 340 kg ha by the local producers of high
yielding corn. Based on the results, the following conclusions could be drawn: (1) N rate signi ficantly influenced the soil
−1
NO3–N residual and plant NU. When N rate was less than 190 kg ha , the soil NO3–N residual decreased each year. The soil
−1
NO3–N residual maintained balance between years when N rate measured 240 kg ha . By contrast, when N rate was higher
−1
than 290 kg ha , the soil NO3–N residual increased each year, furthermore, the NO 3–N residual of 80–180 cm soil in harvest
season under MDFN290 and MDFN340 increased by 26.9% and 48.4%, respec-tively, in comparison with that in MDFN240.
−1 −1
When N rate ranged within 0–240 kg ha , each 50 kg ha in-crease in N rate caused a 16.7% average improvement in total
NU of corn. However, the increase rate of NU dropped until negative growth appeared at increased amount of N fertilizer. (2)
All corn yields, net outputs, and N recovery efficiencies (NREs) tended to increase initially and then decrease with N rate
increasing, and the optimal value of each index was obtained in MDFN240. The N fertilizer amount of MDFN240 decreased
by 29.4% in comparison with that in MDFN340, but the yield, net output and NRE increased by 8.3%, 13.4% and

35.1%, respectively. Moreover, the MDFN240 treatment decreased the NO3–N residual of 80–180 cm soil by
49.2%. However, this increased the yield, net output and N partial productivity efficiency by 11.4%, 22.1% and
58.3%, respectively, in comparison with those of CFN340. (3) Based on the consideration of environment and optimal
−1 −1
economic yield (15.6 Mg ha ) computed by nitrogenous fertilizer effect function model, the N rate of 240–253 kg ha under
MDF for corn was more reasonable with NRE potentially reaching 61.6%–62.2%. MDF showed obvious advantages in
reducing N fertilizer and improving NUE.

1. Introduction Tian, 2013). Therefore, popularizing advanced fertilization technology and

Nitrogen (N) is the most essential element in crop growth and de-
velopment. Crop yield has significantly improved since the application of
chemical N fertilizer in farmlands, and the contribution rate of N fertilizer to
world grain yield even reached 30%–50% (Erisman et al., 2008). According
to current trends, N fertilizer consumption will in-crease by 1.7 times in 2050
worldwide and may intensify climate warming, water eutrophication, soil
pollution, and other major en-vironmental issues (Tilman et al., 2001; Conley
et al., 2009; Lu and
improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) are inevitable choices for the
coordinated development of agriculture and environment.
Scientific N application should consider economic and environ-mental
benefits (Lamm et al., 2004; Derby et al., 2005; Castellanos et al., 2013). The
fertilizer is mainly absorbed by crops as nitrate N (NO3–N) after it penetrates
into soils. Insufficient supply of N fertilizer results in low yields, whereas
excessive amounts generate high con-centrations of NO 3–N residual in soil or
considerable loss into the en-vironment (Ju and Christie, 2011; Woli et al.,
2016), soil water

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lgycau@163.com (G. Li).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2017.10.002
Received 16 June 2017; Received in revised form 30 September 2017; Accepted 2 October 2017
0378-4290/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
D. Wang et al.
pollution, and decreased utilization rate of resources (Drecht et al., 2003;
Pascual et al., 2013). Crop growth features a sensitive response mechanism to
N fertilization. Crop colony structure, photosynthetic rate, and root activity
are enhanced at increased N rate. However, ex-cessive increase in N rate can
lead to especially lush foliage, which is unfavorable to plant function
(Nakamura et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2012). Optimal N rate
should be established to ensure high yields and minimize the input and the
loss of N fertilizer. There-fore, N uptake (NU) and soil NO 3–N residual
distribution must be monitored during the crop growing season to achieve
efficient N fer-tilizer management in farmlands.
Given that corn is a high-N consumption crop, an inappropriate N
application scheme in conventional cultivation mainly presents ex-cessive
input amounts and unmatched N fertilizer supply with growth period, which
leads to low NUE. In China, most farmlands still use conventional furrow
−1
fertilization (CF), N rates always reaches 300–450 kg ha or higher, but
NUE is only around 30% (Liu et al., 2003; Ju et al., 2009; Chen et al., 2012;
Wang, 2008; Zhang et al., 2016; Huang et al., 2006). Some studies showed
that N demands vary in each growth period of corn, and in-season fertilization
with sufficient supply in later stages effectively ensured high yields
(Sampathkumar and Pandian, 2010; Ciampitti and Vyn, 2011; Lv, 2012; Liu et
al., 2014). Drip irrigation provides an effective way for timely–accurate
irrigation and fertilization, and researchers conducted numerous studies on
drip fertigation (DF), mainly focusing on water and N movement, N balance,
and fertigation frequency (Lamm et al., 2001; Rajput and Patel, 2006; Li et
̇ tapes laying and film mulching. The variety “Xianyu 335” was chosen in the
al., 2010; Wang et al., 2014; Cetinet al., 2015; Farneselli et al., 2015). High-
frequency DF for N promotes crop growth and NU; more-over, the low
irrigation quota and direct delivery of water and fertilizer to crop roots under
DF significantly reduces N loss from runoff and leaching; thus, the efficiency
of water and nitrogen can be improved by using DF method (Kafkafi and
Kant, 2005; Sampathkumar and Pandian, 2010; Fanish, 2013; Lamm, 2014).
In recent years, mulched drip irrigation for corn has been increas-ingly
used in northern China. Film mulching can increase solar radia-tion
absorption on the earth’s surface to improve soil temperature and block
migration of water vapor from deep to surface soil to reduce water
evaporation (Wang et al., 2016). Film mulching can also effec-tively improve
field microclimates around crops, contributing to root growth and plant
function (Decoteau et al., 1989; Orzolek et al., 2003). The combination of
mulching effect and soil moistening characteristics of drip irrigation changes
soil water and heat conditions, affects nu-trient transport and crop uptake, and
reduces nutrient loss through volatilization and leaching in contrast to
conventional drip irrigation (Vazquez et al., 2006; Lv, 2012; Li et al., 2017;
Jayakumar et al., 2017). At present, few studies focus on the coordination
mechanism of soil N fertility and plant growth for corn under mulched drip
fertigation (MDF), and the optimal N fertilizer rate and NUE under MDF
remain unclear.
In this study, field experiments were conducted to investigate the
regulation of MDF to soil NO3–N residual distribution and plant NU rules,
and to analyze the response mechanism of corn yield to N
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Field Crops Research 216 (2018) 225–233
Fig. 1. The schematic diagram of cropping pattern and lateral layout of drip
tapes under mulch for corn.
fertilizer supply. Furthermore, this study aims to clarify the optimal N rate
under MDF for corn based on economic benefits and provide the-oretical
basis for the establishment of N fertilizer management system with
synchronous nutrient supply in root layer and corn growth de-mand.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Site description
The field experiments were conducted in 2015–2016, Chifeng in Inner
Mongolia, China (42°56′53″N, 119°4′20″E). The area has a semi-arid and
continental monsoon climate with about 135–day frost-free period, the annual
average rainfall and evaporation amounts are 350–450 and 1500–2300 mm,
respectively.
The soil layer of 0–60 cm in the test site belongs to silt loam soil with a
−3
soil bulk density of 1.49 g cm and a field water-holding rate of 34.45%
(volume moisture content). The soil organic matter was
−1 −1
10.6 g kg , the mass fraction for total N was 0.60 g kg , the available
−1
potassium and phosphorus was 167 and 7.6 mg kg , respectively.
2.2. Experimental design and field management
A multi-functional air-suction seeder was used to complete sowing, drip
test, and the planting date in 2 years was May 3 and May 2, respectively. The
corn seeds were planted in alternate wide-narrow (80–40 cm) rows with a
−1
planting density of 83,330 plants ha . The drip tape with wall thickness of
−1
0.2 mm, drip flow of 1.38 L h and dripper spacing of 40 cm was placed in
the middle of narrow line. The corn cropping pattern and lateral layout of drip
tapes under mulched drip irrigation is shown in Fig. 1.
The experiment used a completely randomized design for the vari-able
factor of N rate. Six N application levels were set under MDF, namely, 0, 140,
−1
190, 240, 290 and 340 kg ha (i.e., MDFN0, MDFN140, MDFN190,
MDFN240, MDFN290 and MDFN340), and a control treatment was added
−1
under conventional furrow fertilization (CFN340). The N rate of 340 kg ha
is widely applied in local high-yield corn fields. Each treatment was
performed in triplicate, thus, 21 plots in total were arranged randomly. The
size of each plot was 40 m × 6 m with 10 lines of corn planting.
The application amount of P2O5 and K2O in all treatments was the same
−1
with 135 kg ha . The N application scheme is shown in Table 1. The starter
fertilizer, urea (N 46%), calcium superphosphate (P 2O5 46%) and potassium
sulfate (K2O 52%), were applied to field by the seeder. All of the topdressing
fertilizers, which involved urea (N 46%), monoammonium phosphate (P 2O5
61%, N 12%) and potassium chloride (K2O 62%), were soluble. The
application percentage of the starter and topdressing fertilizer in MDF
treatments are shown in Table 2. Whereas the P2O5 and K2O in CFN340 were
applied at planting, and the N were used for starter and topdressing fertilizers
with a percentage of 6:4.
D. Wang et al. Field Crops Research 216 (2018) 225–233

Table 1
The fertilization schemes for N under different treatments.

−1 −1
Treatments N rate (kg ha ) Fertilization splits Fertilization time and application rate (kg ha )

Sowing V6 V12 VT R2 R4

MDFN0 0 0 – – – – – –
MDFN140 140 6 28 28 35 21 21 7
MDFN190 190 6 38 38 48 29 29 10
MDFN240 240 6 48 48 60 36 36 12
MDFN290 290 6 58 58 73 44 44 15
MDFN340 340 6 68 68 85 51 51 17
CFN340 340 2 174 – 116 – – –

V6–sixth leaves, V12–twelfth leaves, VT– tasselling, R2–filling, R4–dough.

Table 2 in different growth stages, such as VE (emergence), V6 (sixth leaves), V12

Fertilizer application percentages in different growth stages under drip fertigation treatments. (twelfth leaves), VT (tasselling), R2 (filling) and R6 (physiological maturity).
Plants were separated into leaves, stems and ears, then they were heat-treated
Fertilizer Sowing V6 V12 VT R2 R4
at 105 °C for 30 mins and dried at 75 °C to a constant weight to calculate the
dry matter. Finally, the plant samples were crushed to test the total N of plant
N 20% 20% 25% 15% 15% 5% (Kjeldahl method).
P2O5 50% 15% 15% 20% – –
K2 O 50% 30% 20% – – –
2.3.3. Yield measurement
V6–sixth leaves, V12–twelfth leaves, VT − tasselling, R2–filling, R4–dough. During the harvest period, entire corn plants along 10 m of the sowing
line from the middle six lines of each plot were harvested se-parately. The
The MDF treatments were irrigated according to the lower irrigation limit grain water content was measured by a grain moisture analyzer, and then the
and crop water requirement. The lower limit of irrigation at seedling and grain yield with a standard moisture content of 14% was calculated.
mature stages was 70%, whereas that in other growth stages was 75%. The
total irrigation amount in 2015 and 2016 under each MDF treatment was 160
and 130 mm, respectively. The control treatment was irrigated in maize V6, 2.3.4. Evaluation indexes of nitrogenous effect and economic benefit
VT and R2 stages with 90 mm of application each time, totalling 270 mm −1 GYN − GYN0
each year. The scheduling of the control treatment was based on the local N agronomic efficiency ( NAE, kg kg )=
producers of high yielding corn under border irrigation (DB15/T385, 2015), N
rate
and was consisted with some other studies (Zhang, 2014; Han, 2015). The −1 GYN
total rainfall during corn growing season for 2 years was 180 and 250 mm, N partial factor productivity (NPFP, kg kg )= N
respec-tively. The other farm tasks were performed as local high-yield farm- rate

land, and the harvest time in 2 years was October 2 and September 28, N recovery efficiency ( NRE, %)= NUN − NUN0 × 100%;
respectively. N
rate
−1
Soil NO3 -N residual (kg ha )=∑ CNO3 −N × h i × Υi × 10
i = 0 −180cm
2.3. Observation indexes and methods Output
Output − input ratio =
2.3.1. Meteorological data and soil moisture
The ET107 automatic meteorological station manufactured by USA GYN − Grain yield with N applied; GYN0 − Grain yield without N ap-plied;
Campbell Scientific was used to continuously monitor the meteor-ological
NUN − N uptake with N applied; NU N0 − N uptake without N applied; h i −
data, such as daily temperature and rainfall during the corn growing season. −3
Soil thickness, m; ϒi − Soil bulk density, g cm ; Output − Income of maize
Soil moisture was regularly measured (at depth of 0–20, 20–40 and 40–60
grain; Input − Total investment of maize seed, tube materials, fertilizers,
cm) using gravimetric method every 10 days to determine the lower limit of machinery, labor, water and electricity.
irritation for each growth stage of corn. Statistical analysis and plotting were performed using Microsoft Excel
2010 and IBM SPSS Statistics 17.0.
2.3.2. Sampling and chemical analysis
Before planting, 0–60 cm soil samples were collected to test the soil basic 3. Results
nutrients: organic matter, total N, available phosphorus and po-tassium.
3.1. Dynamic changes in soil NO3–N and plant NU during corn growing
Soil samples were collected in 20 cm increments to a depth of 60 cm one season
day before and after each fertilization to observe the dynamic changes of
NO3–N content at 0–60 cm soil layer, which is the main distribution layer of 3.1.1. Soil NO3–N in corn root layer
corn root (Li et al., 2017; Zhou et al., 2017), during growing season. In The dynamic changes of soil NO3–N at 0–60 cm before and after each
harvest time, soil samples of 0–180 profile (0–40 cm: 10 cm one layer, 40–
fertigation are shown in Fig. 2. Under MDF treatments, the NO 3–N content in
180 cm: 20 cm one layer) were collected to analyze the NO 3–N residual
each soil layer for MDFN0 decreased with the development of corn growth.
distribution in soil. The soil sample collection point was located in the middle By contrast, those in treatments with different N ap-plication levels showed a
of two plants with a hor-izontal distance of 20 cm from the drip tape. And the
changing tendency of wavy line with time. In other words, the NO 3–N
soil NO3–N con-tent was measured by AA3 continuous flow analyzer (Bran content increased at peak value after each N fertigation and then gradually
Luebbe, Germany). decreased, and the peak number was the same with the times of topdressing.

Five corn plants were removed from the ground except for the roots The increment of soil NO3–N content at 20–40 cm soil layer was the

227
D. Wang et al.
Fig. 2. Dynamic changes in NO3–N concentration of 0–60 cm soil layer for different treatments.
highest after N fertigation, which is related to the irrigation water quota. For
example, in the fertigation of corn V12 (July 12) and VT (July 27) stages in
2016, the irrigation water quota measured 30 mm in V12 stage, and the
concentration of soil NO3–N peaked at 20–40 cm layer; by contrast in VT
stage, irrigation water was 13 mm, and soil NO 3–N content peaked at 0–20
cm layer. Given that the irrigation quota was usually about 30 mm for each
fertigation time, NO3–N content resulted in peaked increase at 20–40 cm
layer for the NO3–N accumu-lation nearby wetting fronts.
The NO3–N content in each soil layer was increased with increasing N
rate. Based on the initial content of soil NO 3–N (which was 23.9, 22.1 and
−1
21.4 mg kg , respectively, at 0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm) before corn
sowing in the first season, we observed that NO 3–N content at 0–60 cm
decreased gradually in the MDFN0–MDFN190 treatments, showing an
−1
average decrease of 14.9–7.2 and 17.0–14.0 mg kg in the harvest seasons of
2015 and 2016, respectively. The soil NO3–N in
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Field Crops Research 216 (2018) 225–233
MDFN240 rose and fell around the initial content, which increased by 2.8 mg
−1
kg on the average for two harvest seasons. NO 3–N contents in MDFN290
−1
and MDFN340 treatments increased by 3.8–8.5 and 4.1–10.8 mg kg in the
harvest seasons of 2015 and 2016, respec-tively.
The soil NO3–N content treated with CFN340 was much higher in the
early stages before V6, but much lower after VT compared with those in
MDFN340, and those conditions were increasingly evident in the 20–60 cm
soil layer. With regard to harvest seasons, the soil NO 3–N contents of 0–20
and 20–60 cm in CFN340 averagely decreased by 3.4 and 11.5 mg kg ,
−1
respectively, in comparison with those in MDFN340.
3.1.2. Changing rules of corn plant NU
The dynamic changes in corn NU for each growth period and the
percentage of NU for each growth period to the total (PT) are shown in Figs.
3–5
D. Wang et al.
Fig. 4. The percentage of N uptake at different growth stages to total under mulched drip
fertigation (MDF) treatments.
VE – emergence, V6 – sixth leaves, VT – tasselling, R2 – filling, R4 – dough, R6 – phy-
siological maturity.
The plant NU for corn showed a tendency to increase initially and then
decrease with the increase in N rate, which obtained the maximum value in
−1
MDFN290. When N rate increased within 0–240 kg ha , NU increased
significantly, whereas the amplitude gradually declined until a negative
growth appeared with continuous increase of N rate. During the harvest
−1
seasons, NU increased an average of 16.7% with every 50 kg ha increase in
N rate for MDFN0–MDFN240 treatments. By contrast, the NU of MDFN290
increased by 7.5% compared with that in MDFN240, whereas that even
decreased by 4.6% in MDFN340 com-pared with MDFN290.
Under the MDF treatments, the average PT in VE–V6, V6–VT, VT–R2,
R2–R4, and R4–R6 periods for corn reached 5.8%, 50.0%, 21.9%, 16.4%,
and 6.0%, respectively. N rate showed a significant regulating effect on the
NU ratio in vegetative and reproductive growth periods for corn: the PT in
main vegetative periods (V6–VT) decreased first and then increased with
increasing N rates, whereas that in re-productive period (VT–R6) increased
first and then decreased. Take the treatments of MDFN0, MDFN240 and
MDFN340 as examples, PT in V6–VT period reached 52.6%, 46.9%, and
51.1%, respectively; whereas
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Field Crops Research 216 (2018) 225–233
Fig. 3. Dynamic changes in plant N uptake for corn in
different treatments during growing season.
Fig. 5. Dynamic change in plant N uptake (NU) and percentage of NU at varying growth stages
to total under different fertilization methods.
VE – emergence, V6 – sixth leaves, VT – tasselling, R2 – filling, R4 – dough, R6 – phy-
siological maturity.
that in VT–R6 period totaled 38.7%, 48.7%, and 43.4%, respectively. These
results indicated that appropriate N fertilizer supply could pro-mote plant NU
in reproductive period.
Comparing the influence of fertilization methods on corn NU, the plant
NU of vegetative period under CFN340 was higher than that in MDFN340
but gradually decreased after processing into reproductive period, and the gap
was getting greater. The PTs of VT–R6 period in MDFN340 and CFN340 was
43.6% and 36.5%, respectively, and the whole plant NU in MDFN340 was
10.3% higher than that in CFN340. Results demonstrated that MDF can
promote plant NU significantly through improving the NU percentage of
reproductive period to total growth period.
3.2. The soil NO3–N residual and total plant NU in harvest season
The distribution of NO3–N residual at 0–180 cm soil profile and the total
plant NU at harvest seasons are displayed in Table 3.
The soil NO3–N residual under MDF treatments increased at 0–40 cm
and then decreased at 40–180 cm. The amount of NO3–N re-sidual in the soil
profile was improved with the increase in N rate, and the difference under
varying N levels was particularly significant in the main distribution layer (0–
60 cm) of corn roots. NO3–N residual of each soil layer under MDFN0–
MDFN190 showed insignificant difference, and the total NO3–N residual of
−1
180 cm soil profile measured 159.5–211.3 kg ha , which was equal to 36.0–
−1
47.7 kg ha soil N
D. Wang et al. Field Crops Research 216 (2018) 225–233

Table 3
−1
The NO3–N residual in 180 cm soil profile and total plant N uptake (NU) in harvest season (kg·ha ).

Treatment Year NO3–N residual in different soil layers Profile N residual from Total NU of
NO3–N maize
0–10 10–20 20–30 30–40 40–60 60–80 80–100 100–120 120–140 140–160 160–180 Total

MDFN0 2015 12.0 11.9 16.6 10.1 23.7 27.1 22.2 17.5 21.1 21.4 20.0 203.5 46.0 153.1
2016 7.7 5.4 9.0 9.0 13.9 14.1 8.5 10.7 6.5 18.4 12.3 115.4 26.1 131.6
Mean 9.9a 8.6a 12.8a 9.6a 18.8a 20.6a 15.4a 14.1a 13.8a 19.9b 16.2a 159.5a 36.0a 142.3a
MDFN140 2015 10.1 15.1 19.7 15.7 33.0 19.8 16.7 24.5 15.7 19.1 30.1 219.3 49.5 229.8
2016 8.3 8.9 11.5 6.3 13.0 13.9 12.8 10.4 10.8 13.0 10.9 119.8 27.0 206.2
Mean 9.2a 12.0a 15.6a 11.0a 23.0a 16.8a 14.8a 17.5a 13.2a 16.0a 20.5a 169.6a 38.3a 218.0b
MDFN190 2015 12.0 17.9 17.7 22.5 34.6 27.6 23.7 22.8 19.2 22.9 21.9 242.8 54.8 266.2
2016 8.9 10.1 8.4 6.5 26.7 26.9 16.5 9.0 26.6 22.7 17.6 179.8 40.6 244.7
Mean 10.4a 14.0a 13.1a 14.5a 30.7a 27.3b 20.1a 15.9a 22.9ab 22.8b 19.8a 211.3a 47.7a 255.4c
MDFN240 2015 21.5 27.4 31.3 30.8 44.7 33.9 35.5 32.3 26.1 19.5 16.1 318.9 72.0 304.3
2016 18.5 28.1 28.5 32.3 50.5 37.1 34.3 30.7 22.6 21.5 19.1 323.2 73.0 278.4
Mean 20.0b 27.7b 29.9b 31.5b 47.6b 35.5c 34.9b 31.5b 24.3b 20.5b 17.6a 321.0b 72.5b 291.4d
MDFN290 2015 21.0 34.8 37.7 39.7 73.5 49.0 36.4 36.1 27.8 30.6 22.3 409.0 92.3 330.2
2016 24.1 36.7 48.9 42.9 78.6 44.4 37.4 48.4 29.0 27.7 31.4 449.5 101.5 296.1
Mean 22.6bc 35.8c 43.3c 41.3c 76.1c 46.7d 36.9b 42.3c 28.4b 29.1c 26.8a 429.2c 96.9c 313.1d
MDFN340 2015 23.5 39.6 41.6 50.1 88.1 58.8 47.7 45.0 31.0 29.4 30.4 485.2 109.6 312.1
2016 27.2 45.0 45.3 52.9 101.2 64.5 51.6 56.0 44.5 24.9 21.8 534.9 120.8 285.2
Mean 25.3c 42.3d 43.5c 51.5d 94.6d 61.7e 49.7c 50.5c 37.8c 27.1c 26.1a 510.0d 115.2d 298.6d
CFN340 2015 35.9 37.8 34.9 34.1 61.1 54.2 54.8 60.5 44.0 41.0 41.3 499.8 112.9 286.9
2016 34.1 41.4 42.2 34.6 62.6 65.5 68.3 55.6 54.3 49.9 37.7 546.3 123.4 254.4
Mean 35.0 39.6 38.6 34.3 61.8 59.9 61.6 58.1 49.2 45.5 39.5 523.0 118.1 270.6

Different lowercase letters in the same column indicate significance at P < 0.05, whereas the same letter indicates insignificance.
1 7 ×R .
Soil N residual from NO3–N (kg ha ) = 31
NO 3 −N

−1
residual. When N rate measured over 190 kg ha , the soil NO3–N re-sidual
significantly increased, and that under MDFN240 almost re-mained
unchanged between years, whereas those under MDFN290 and MDFN340
increased evidently for each year.
Excessive N fertilizer not only led to a high concentration of NO 3–N
residual in soil but also exacerbated migration of NO 3–N to deeper layers.
The total NO3–N residuals in 180 cm soil profile under MDFN290–
MDFN340 increased by 33.7%–58.9%, and that in 80–180 cm increased by
26.9%–48.4% in comparison with those under MDFN240.
NPFP of MDFN340 improved by 3.0% and 3.1%, respectively, in com-
parison with those of CFN340.
In the optimal treatment MDFN240, the yield and NRE increased by
16.3% and 14.9%, respectively, in comparison with those in MDFN140; the N
fertilizer amount decreased by 29.4% with an increase of 8.3% and 35.1% in
yield and NRE, respectively, in comparison with those in MDFN340; the
yield and NPFP increased by 11.6% and 58.3%, re-spectively, in comparison
with those in CFN340. These results indicated that appropriate N application
under MDF was conducive to improving corn yield and NUEs.

Based on the significance analysis of total NU for corn under MDF
treatments, we can see that NU in MDFN0–MDFN240 significantly in-
creased with the increase in N rate, whereas those in MDFN240–MDFN340
exhibited insignificant difference but were ob-viously higher than those in
DFN0–DFN190. No significant difference was observed in total NO 3–N
residual in 180 cm soil of MDFN340 in comparison with CFN340, but the
total NO3–N residual outside corn roots (80–180 cm) reduced by 24.7%, and
the total plant NU also sig-nificantly increased.
3.3. Corn yield, NUEs, and economic benefit
In Table 4, N rate posed significant or extremely significant influ-ence on
corn yield and NUEs. Corn yield initially increased and then decreased with
increasing N rate, and the maximum value was obtained in MDFN240. In
comparison with MDFN0, each treatment with N ap-plication caused an
increasing yield of 32.1%–53.7%. No significant difference was observed in
yields between MDFN240 and MDFN290, but the yield was significantly
higher in MDFN240 than that of other treatments.
The N partial factor productivity (NPFP) decreased with increasing N
−1
rate. For each 50 kg ha increase in N rate, NPFP decreased by 18.4 kg kg
−1
on average. The N agronomic efficiencies presented no significant difference
existed in MDFN140–MDFN240 and all remained at high levels, whereas
those in MDFN290 and MDFN340 significantly declined. The N recovery
efficiency (NRE) significantly improved with increasing N rate within 140–
−1
240 kg ha , but it gradually induced inhibition effects with continuous N
increase. For instance, the NRE of MDFN340 was 14.9% lower than that of
MDFN140. The grain yield and
The economic benefit analysis is shown in Table 5 based on the average
input and output of corn cultivation for 2 years. The fertilizer application in
MDFN340 was the same as that in CFN340. Although MDF required more
input in tubular products, it remarkably presented low cost for water,
−1
machinery, and labor. This result reduced total input by 88 $ ha and
increased net output by 7.7%.
In MDF treatments, the net output and output–input ratio exhibited a
same tendency of increasing initially and then decreasing with the
−1
increase in N rate. In 0–240 kg ha range of N rate, for each
−1 −1
50 kg ha increase, net output increased by 295 $·ha on average.
−1
However, when N rate was beyond 290 kg ha , the net output tended to
decrease for the increase in N fertilizer input and reduction in yield benefit.
With MDFN240 treatment, we obtained the maximum net output value,
which increased by 13.4% and 22.1% in comparison with those in MDFN340
and CFN340, respectively.
3.4. Establishment of nitrogenous fertilizer effect function model
The regression analysis of grain yield and NRE with N rate under MDF
for 2 years is shown in Fig. 6. The regression equations (Table 6) were highly
significant (P < 0.01) according to F test, this result in-dicates that the
equations were successfully fitted. Basing on the as-sumption that marginal
income is equal to marginal cost (dy × Yp = dx × Xp, Xp − N price, Yp −
−1
grain price), the optimal economic N rate was obtained at 253 kg ha , and
−1
the target yield reached 15.6 Mg ha with NRE totaling 61.6%.
The amount of N fertilizer application and the grain yield in the optimal
treatment MDFN240 presented high consistency with the fitted results of
nitrogenous fertilizer effect function model, indicating that

230
D. Wang et al. Field Crops Research 216 (2018) 225–233

Table 4
Summary of corn yield, NPFP, NAE and NRE under different treatments.

−1 −1 −1
Treatment Yield(kg ha ) NPFP (kg kg ) NAE (kg kg ) NRE (%)

2015 2016 Mean 2015 2016 Mean 2015 2016 Mean 2015 2016 Mean

MDFN0 11738a 9203a 10471a

MDFN140 14252b 13421b 13837b 101.8e 95.9e 98.8e 17.9b 30.1c 24.0c 54.8b 53.3b 54.1b
MDFN190 15260c 14784c 15022c 80.3d 77.9d 79.1d 18.5b 29.4c 24.0c 59.5bc 59.5bc 59.5c
MDFN240 16243cd 15953d 16098d 67.7c 66.5c 67.1c 18.8b 28.1c 23.4c 63.0c 61.2c 62.1c
MDFN290 16021cd 15480cd 15751cd 55.3b 53.4b 54.3b 14.8ab 21.6b 18.2ab 61.1bc 56.7bc 58.9c
MDFN340 15175c 14530c 14852c 44.6a 42.7a 43.7a 10.1a 15.7a 12.9a 46.8a 45.2a 46.0a
Mean 14782 13895 14338 69.9 67.3 68.6 16.0 25.0 20.5 57.5 56.3 56.9
** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** **
F test 49.0 83.9 45.1 146.0 232.6 298.3 4.0 20.7 4.7 12.8 13.6 26.7
CFN340 14580 14267 14424 42.9 42.0 42.4 – – – – – –

Different lowercase letters in the same column indicate significance at p < 0.05, whereas the same letter indicates insignificance.
NAE–N agronomic efficiency, NRE–N recovery efficiency, NPFP–N partial factor productivity.
* Means significant (p < 0.05).
* Means extremely significant (p < 0.01).

simulation results can be applied to corn production.

4. Discussion

The adequate supply of N fertilizer in the middle and late growth periods
of corn guarantees high yields (Ciampitti and Vyn, 2011; Mueller and Vyn,
2016). In-season fertilization based on N demand for corn contributes to NUE
enhancement (Liu et al., 2014; Li et al., 2017). In a conventional management
method, excessive water and fertilizer were applied in corn early growth
period. This approach not only in-tensifies the risk of N leaching and soil
water pollution but also easily induces insufficient soil N supply in corn later
growth period, thus re-sulted in yield reduction (Lv, 2012; Geng et al., 2012).
MDF can po-tentially solve these problems (Kafkafi and Kant, 2005; Kalpana
and Fanish, 2014). In this study, CFN340 resulted in significant accumula-tion
of soil NO3–N in corn early growth periods, but it turned lower than that in
MDFN340 during the middle and later stages. MDF main-tained the soil
NO3–N content, in corn main root layers (0–60 cm), at relatively high levels
with less fluctuation during the entire growing season, which benefited plant
NU and increased absorption ratio of N in reproductive growth period to
Fig. 6. Relationship of corn yield and NRE with N rate.
improve corn production (Fig. 6 and Table 4). In comparison with CFN340,
NRE – N recovery efficiency.
no significant increase (3.0%) in yield was appeared in MDFN340; by
contrast, the N application amount in MDFN240 decreased by 29.4% with an
increase of 11.6% in yield, and decrease of 49.2% in NO3–N residual outside Table 6
−1 The regression analysis of corn yield, NRE with N rate.
the root layer. The results indicated that N rate of 340 kg ha inhibited corn
growth, and the application of MDF bears significant potential in the Item Regression equations R
2
F-value
realization of N fertilizer reduction and yield increase in farmlands. 2 **
Yield y= 0.0727x + 39.0232x + 10326 0.848 92.02
2 **
NRE y= 0.001216x + 0.5503x + 0.1878 0.748 40.07

Soil NO3–N content can directly reflect effective soil N fertility, the NU NRE–N recovery efficiency.
and growth status of corn were extremely sensitive to N fertilizer supply. This ** Means extremely significant (p < 0.01).
research considered the initial soil NO 3–N content as standard. After two
harvest seasons of corn, when N rate ranged within

Table 5
Analysis of economic benefits for corn under different treatments.

−1 −1 −1
Treatment Input ($·ha ) Output ($·ha ) Net output value ($·ha ) Input-output ratio

Seed Tube materials Fertilizer Water and electricity Machinery Labor

MDFN0 184 245 217 111 138 145 2886 1846 1:2.8
MDFN140 184 245 281 111 138 145 3814 2710 1:3.5
MDFN190 184 245 304 111 138 145 4141 3013 1:3.7
MDFN240 184 245 327 111 138 145 4437 3287 1:3.9
MDFN290 184 245 350 111 138 145 4342 3168 1:3.7
MDFN340 184 245 373 111 138 145 4094 2898 1:3.4
CFN340 184 0 373 207 184 337 3976 2691 1:3.1

The Local market prices of N, P2O5, K2O and maize grain are 0.61, 0.84, 0.77 and 0.28 $·kg; respectively; The price of water and electricity for agriculture is 0.08 $ m Net output
1
value ($ kg ) = Output − Input.

231
D. Wang et al.
−1
0–190 kg ha ,the effective soil N fertility declined. Furthermore, when N
−1
rate measured 240 kg ha , the effective soil N fertility was almost balanced.
−1
By contrast, N rate reached higher than 290 kg ha , soil NO3–N residual
significantly increased with intensifying N deep leaching. The rule of plant
NU was closely related to N rate: the NU increased significantly with
−1
increasing N rate at a range of 0–240 kg ha , whereas this increase gradually
declined to negative values with continuous increase in fertilizer. The results
demonstrated that application of N fertilizer can improve effective soil N
fertility to promote plant NU. However, plants NU would not constantly
increase with increasing N rate. Excess N would lead to high concentration of
NO3–N in soil and intensive NO3–N deep migration with the influence of
irrigation, rainfall, soil property, and other effects (Wu et al., 2016; Woli et
al., 2016). Appropriate N fertilizer supply can prolong photo-synthetic
function period of canopy leaves, improve NU in the re-productive growth
period (Fig. 5), and thus improve economic yield (Table 4). Therefore, the
determination of N fertilizer input should consider comprehensively the basic
soil N content, NO3–N residual amount, N application time, and crop target
yield (Shapiro et al., 2008; Dobermann et al., 2011).
Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is a key factor that affects economic and
environmental benefits. China currently features generally ex-cessive N
fertilizer input per unit area, whereas NUE of field corn is only about 30%,
which is far below that of developed countries in Europe and America (Huang
et al., 2006; Wortmann et al., 2010). Low NUE is mainly caused by the
extensive method for conventional irrigation and fertilization, high input of N
fertilizer, and serious loss of N in farm-lands. In this study, the corn yield and
−1
NUE obtained the maximum values when N rate measured 240 kg ha ,
which guaranteed balanced available soil N fertility. When N rate exceeded
−1
290 kg ha , NO3–N residual in 80–180 cm soil significantly increased with
evident de-creases in yield and NUE. The results confirmed that excessive
appli-cation of N not only was useless to yield but also exacerbated N
leaching outside the rhizosphere layer, thus led to lower NUE (Nakamura et
al., 2004; Meisinger et al., 2008; Yang et al., 2017).
Based on the optimal economic N rate computed by the nitrogenous
−1
fertilizer effect function model, we suggest the N rate to be 240–253 kg ha
−1
under MDF with yield exceeding 15 Mg ha , and NRE reaching 61.6%–
62.2% potentially. In recent years, increasing studies centered on how to
realize reduction of N fertilizer and im-provement of NUE in farmlands.
Whether from economic or ecological benefit perspectives, high-yield
practices with over-reliance on fertilizer inputs was recognized to be
untenable. A research in Nebraska, U.S.A., showed that when N rate
measured less than or close to the optimal economic N rate, best corn yield
−1
and NRE were guaranteed; the results measured 171 kg ha in N rate and
−1
14.8 Mg ha in corn yield with NRE reaching 67.0% (Wortmann et al.,
2010). Research results of Lamm et al. (2004) in Kansas U.S.A., showed that
the optimal N rate of corn with subsurface drip irrigation measured 212 kg
−1 −1 −1
ha with a yield of 13.4 Mg ha , and the NPFP calculated as 63.2 kg kg .
−1
In China, the widely used N application amount of 300–450 kg ha or higher
for corn always lead to low NUE (Ju et al., 2009; Chen et al., 2012; Huang et
al., 2006), and some researchers suggested corn N rate for high yields ( > 12
−1
Mg ha ) under conventional fertilization should be controlled at 260–300 kg
−1
ha (Wang et al., 2009; Meng et al., 2016). In this study, the recommended N
rate was higher than that of above-men-tioned American researchers, and the
corn yield and NUE are slightly higher than or close to their experimental
results. These varying ob-servations may be due to the differences in initial
available soil N contents, fertilization methods, and corn varieties used. In
comparison with the above-mentioned Chinese studies, the N rate
recommended in this study tended to decline but with significant increase in
yield and NUE, these results presented higher economic and environmental
ben-efits.
232
Field Crops Research 216 (2018) 225–233
5. Conclusions
Mulched drip fertigation (MDF) maintained the soil NO3–N content at
high levels with less fluctuation during the whole growing season for corn;
this method significantly promoted the plant NU and provided a guarantee for
improvement of corn yield. Meanwhile, MDF reduced the deep leaching of
NO3–N, thus, resulted in evident NUE increase and alleviation of soil water
pollution.
A significant effect of N application rate was observed on plant NU and
soil NO3–N residual. The NU initially increased and then decreased at
−1
increased N rate, and the increasing amplitude (16.7% for every 50 kg ha
−1
increase in N rate) was large when N rate ranged within 0–240 kg ha ,
whereas the increase rate in NU dropped until negative growth appeared when
N fertilizer was added continuously. The soil NO 3–N residual increased with
−1
increasing N rate, and when the applied N fertilizer was less than 190 kg ha ,
the soil fertility of available N decreased every year; by contrast, high
concentration of NO3–N in soil resulted when the N rate exceeded 290 kg
−1
ha , thus intensified the migration to deep soil of NO3–N; an appropriate N
−1
rate (240 kg ha ) not only favored the balance of available soil N fertility but
also re-duced the deep leaching of NO 3–N (the soil NO3–N residual in 80–
180 cm decreased by 21.2%–32.6%, in comparison with those in MDFN290–
MDFN340).
Mulched drip fertigation (MDF) shows distinct potential in reducing N
fertilizer input and improving NUE in farmlands. Based on the eco-nomic
−1
benefits, it seems reasonable to apply 240–253 kg ha N ferti-lizer under
MDF with NRE reaching 61.6%–62.2%. The conclusions of this study
exhibits significance to the scientific management of N fer-tilization and to the
promotion of MDF technology in corn cultivation.
Acknowledgement
The authors are greatly indebted to the financial support from the National
Support Program of China (2014BAD12B05 and 2016YFC0400105).
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