Abstract:

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of nitrogen application rate on the grain yield,nitrogen accumulation and use efficiency of spring maize under different film mulching methods,and to provide a theoretical basis for efficient nitrogen application management of spring maize film mulching in high altitude area of Guizhou.Field trials were carried out from 2018 to 2019.The plots were arranged in a split-plot design.The main plots were assigned to the film mulching methods(wide film and narrow film) to be studied and divided into subplots according to the five nitrogen application levels(0,80,160,240 and 320 kg/ha).To study the effects of different film mulching methods and nitrogen application rates on yield,nitrogen accumulation,transport characteristics and utilization efficiency in different organs of spring maize.Film mulching,nitrogen application rate and their interaction significantly increased the yield of spring maize.The results showed that compared to narrow film mulching,wide film mulching not only increased the yield of spring maize by 17.8%,but also significantly enhanced the nitrogen accumulation and the retransfer of nitrogen accumulated before silking,then significantly increased the grain nitrogen accumulation.Moreover,compared to narrow film mulching,wide film mulching achieved significantly higher NUTE,NUPE,AEN,NPFP and NUE values showing increases of 4.9%,21.4%,23.5%,12.2% and 4.23 percentage points,respectively.Nitrogen application realized the synergistic growth of grain yield and plant nitrogen accumulation of spring maize,and could significantly affect nitrogen absorption,accumulation and transport.As the N application rate increased,the N translocation and the contribution rate of nitrogen transfer from vegetative parts to grain after silking could be effectively promoted,as well as enhanced.However,the nitrogen use efficiency,including the NDGPE,NHI,NUTE,NUPE,NUE,AEN,NPFP of spring maize,significantly decreased by increasing of N application rate.The regression analysis had shown that the optimal yield and nitrogen application rate for wide film mulching were reduced nitrogen application by 55 kg/ha and increased yield by 12.3% compared with narrow film mulching.The combination of wide film mulching and suitable nitrogen application rate was beneficial to the plant accumulation and absorption of nitrogen,so as to achieve high yield and nitrogen productivity,and then achieve the purpose of saving fertilizer and increasing yield.Considering the grain yield,N accumulation,transport and N use efficiency of spring maize,the reasonable N application rate of wide film mulching for spring maize in high altitude and other similar ecological zones in Guizhou was 160 kg/ha,which yield could reach 11 404.3 kg/ha.

Key words: Spring maize, Film mulching method, Nitrogen use efficiency, Nitrogen application amount, Guizhou, Yield