Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (3): 169-177. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20196031

Special Issue: Wheat Soil fertilizer

• Resources & Environment•Plant Protection • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Effect of Straw Mulching and Nitrogen Fertilizer Combined Application on the Yield and CO2 Emissions of Dryland Wheat

CHEN Songhe1,2, TANG Zhenghao1, XU Hang1, ZHOU Tian1, FAN Gaoqiong2   

  1. 1 School of Economics, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Yibin 644002, China
    2 College of Agronomy, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
  • Received:2025-04-14 Published:2026-06-28

Abstract:

To investigate suitable cultivation practices for enhancing wheat yield and reducing greenhouse gas CO2 emissions in hilly drylands of Southwest China,this study employed a two-factor split-plot design.The main plots consisted of straw mulching(SM:8 000 kg/ha)and no straw mulching(NSM:0 kg/ha),while subplots included three nitrogen application levels:no nitrogen(N0:0),optimized reduced nitrogen(N1:120 kg/ha),and conventional nitrogen(N2:180 kg/ha),forming six treatments.The results demonstrated that SM increased wheat yield by 29.4% compared to NSM(2 a).The results of two years showed that the wheat yield of N1 treatment increased by 82.9% and 133.8% respectively compared with N0 treatment,and the wheat yield of N2 treatment increased by 84.6% and 148.9% respectively compared with N0 treatment.Compared with the NSM,the soil water content of SM in the jointing stage,flowering stage and mature stage of wheat increased by 3.31,2.78 and 2.40 percentage points(2 a),respectively.Additionally,compared with NSM,the soil bulk density of SM was significantly reduced.Straw mulching significantly elevated soil organic carbon(SOC)and total nitrogen(TN)contents,while nitrogen application increased TN content.Throughout the entire growth period of wheat,straw mulching increased the CO2 emission flux,and this flux rose in tandem with the increase in the nitrogen application rate.The cumulative CO2 emissions of the SM treatment were 45.72% higher than those of the NSM treatment.Similarly,the cumulative CO2 emissions of the N1 and N2 treatments were 48.88% and 71.70% higher than those of the N0 treatment respectively.A further analysis of the CO2 emission intensity revealed that straw mulching had no significant impact on the CO2 emission intensity,whereas the N1 treatment exhibited a significantly lower CO2 emission intensity than the N0 and N2 treatments.Through Mantel analysis,it was discovered that soil moisture,total nitrogen,organic carbon,and wheat yield had a significant influence on CO2 emissions.The study demonstrates that the integrated practice of straw mulching combined with 120 kg/ha nitrogen application represents the most suitable cultivation approach for wheat in hilly drylands of Southwest China,achieving optimal balance between economic viability and ecological sustainability.

Key words: Wheat, Straw mulching, Nitrogen fertilizer, CO2 emissions, Yield, Soil physicochemical properties

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Cite this article

CHEN Songhe, TANG Zhenghao, XU Hang, ZHOU Tian, FAN Gaoqiong. The Effect of Straw Mulching and Nitrogen Fertilizer Combined Application on the Yield and CO2 Emissions of Dryland Wheat[J]. Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica, 2026, 41(3): 169-177. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20196031.

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