Effective use of nitrogen fertilisers for growing grlic Luji Bo 1,2,3,4, Yingpeng Zhng 1,2,3,4,Yn Li 1,2,3,4, 6, Jif Luo 1, 5, Ming Sun 1,2,3, Ziwen Zhong 1, Yongping Jing 1,2, 4 1 Institute of Agriculturl Resources nd Environment, Shndong Acdemy of Agriculturl Sciences, No.202 North Industril Rod, Jinn, Chin, 250100 2 Key Lortory of Agro-Environment of Hung-Hui-Hi Plin, Ministry of Agriculture, No.202 North Industril Rod, Jinn, Chin, 250100 3 Shndong Provincil Key Lortory of Agriculturl Non-Point Source Pollution Control nd Prevention, No.202 North Industril Rod, Jinn, Chin, 250100 4 Shndong Provincil Engineering Reserch Center of Environmentl Protection Fertilizers, No.202 North Industril Rod, Jinn, Chin, 250100 5 Rukur Reserch Centre, AgReserch Limited, Privte Bg 3123,Hmilton, New Zelnd, 3240 6 Corresponding uthor:e-mil: nkyliyn@126.com Astrct An experiment ws conducted on grlic (Allium stivum L.) to investigte the effects of nitrogen mngement on yield, economic enefit nd the soil pprent nutrient lnce, in the region of Liwu town in Shndong province, Chin. The tretments included control (no N fertiliser), ure t 300 kg/h, ure t 240 kg/h, comined ure nd commercil orgnic fertilisers t 120 kg N /h ech, nd controlled-relese nitrogen fertiliser t 192 kg N /h. Results showed no significnt difference oth for grlic ul yield nd economic enefits etween the ure tretments t different N ppliction rtes. The effect of the comined use of ure nd orgnic fertiliser ws similr to tht of the ure ppliction t the sme N ppliction rte. However, grlic ul yields in the tretment of controlled-relese nitrogen fertiliser were significntly higher thn in the other fertiliser tretments, even the N ppliction rte ws lower. The net income from grlic in the tretment of controlled relese fertiliser ws lso significntly higher thn those in the other tretments (P<0.05). There ws N surplus fter the grlic growth seson when ure ws pplied t 300 kg/h, while there ws N, P nd K deficit when the controlled-relese N fertiliser t 192 kg/h ws used to produce more grlic. It is suggested tht use of controlled relese N fertiliser comined with supplement of other nutrients would e sustinle strtegy for fertiliser mngement in grlic production. Key words Grlic ul, Grlic olt, N fertiliser ppliction, Economic enefit, Nutrient lnce Introduction Grlic, clssified under the Allicee fmily, is widely consumed condiment vegetle. It hs high nutritionl vlue, nd is rich in vitmins A nd C. Grlic lso contins ntiiotic sustnces which mkes it vlule for medicl enefits (Byn et l., 2014). Sttistics in pulictions show the glol importnce of grlic, with out 19 million hectres plnted nd n overll nnul production of nerly 327 million tonnes (Smvten et l., 2011). Aout 80 thousnd hectres of grlic re plnted in Chin ech yer. N fertilisers re often over-pplied in n ttempt to chieve high grlic yields. According to the survey, N fertiliser ppliction rtes in Chin re out 900-1500 kg/h. A lrge mount of pplied N hs now ccumulted in the soil due to this high level of N ppliction, resulting in low N use efficiency. Furthermore, surplus N cn e lost to the tmosphere nd the groundwter (Svci, 2012). For exmple, the verge concentrtion of nitrte in groundwter ws up to 34.7 mg/l in the grlic production re in Jinxing Town in Chin (Zhng et l., 2008). The ims of this study were to exmine the effects of nitrogen fertiliser mngement on grlic yield, economic enefit nd the soil pprent nutrient lnce. Our results will provide the direct evidence needed y frmers to pply N fertiliser for grlic production in n economiclly nd environmentlly rtionl mnner. Mterils nd methods Experimentl site The field experiment ws conducted on typicl vegetle production frm t Weiwngxu town, Liwu city, Shndong Province, Chin (36 17 N, 117 27 E). The region hs typicl wrm nd semi-humid continentl monsoon climte. Men nnul temperture ws 13.0 C, nd the lowest nd highest men monthly Proceedings of the 2016 Interntionl Nitrogen Inititive Conference, "Solutions to improve nitrogen use efficiency for the world", 4 8 Decemer 2016, Melourne, Austrli. www.ini2016.com 1
tempertures were -14.5 C in Jnury nd 36.7 C in July, respectively. The verge nnul rinfll ws 695 mm, concentrted in the summer. The study site ws field tht hd een under vegetle cultivtion for decdes. Soil smples from 0-20 cm depth showed the soil to e Brown erth, with ph (H 2 O) of 7.03, orgnic mtter (OM) of 14.3 g/kg, nd ville N, P, nd K of 156, 112, nd 181 g/kg soil, respectively. Experimentl design nd crop mngement The field experiment consisted of five tretments, ech in triplicte, with rndomized lock design. Tretments included control (CK, no N fertiliser), ure t 300 kg/h (FP), ure t 240 kg/h (OPT), comined ure nd commercil orgnic fertilisers t 120 kg/h ech (OM-CF), nd controlled-relese N fertiliser t 192 kg/h (CRF) (Tle 1). Fertilisers were pplied three times in ech of the FP, OPT nd OM-CF tretments: 60% s sl fertiliser, 25% s grlic olt elongtion fertiliser, nd 15% s grlic ul expnsion fertiliser (Tle 1). In the Tretment CRF, thermoplstic resin-coted ure contining 4% coted mteril nd 42% N, ws pplied only once s sl fertiliser. Synthetic phosphte nd potssium fertilisers were pplied s sl fertilisers t rtes of 90 kg P 2 O 5 /h nd 270 kg K 2 O /h, respectively, in ll the tretments except Tretment FP, which hd fertiliser ppliction t rte of 120 kg P 2 O 5 /h nd 255 kg K 2 O /h. Grlic (Allium stivum L.) ws cultivted in 7.0 m 7 m field plots. Grlic seed ws sown on 25 th Septemer 2012. Tle 1. Fertiliser ppliction in the experiment(kg/h) Bse fertiliser Supplementl fertiliser Supplementl fertiliser Tretments (Grlic olt elongtion) (Grlic ul expnsion) The totl N pplied N P 2 O 5 K 2 O N N CK 0 90 270 0 0 0 FP 180 120 255 75 45 300 OPT 144 90 270 60 36 240 OM-CF 144 90 270 60 36 240 CRF 192 90 270 0 0 192 CK= no N fertiliser, FP= ure t 300 kg/h, OPT= ure t 240 kg/h, OM-CF= comined ure nd commercil orgnic fertilisers t 120 kg/h ech, CRF= controlled-relese nitrogen fertiliser t 192 kg/h. Smpling nd dt nlysis Grlic olt nd grlic ul were hrvested on 5 th My 2013 nd 28 th My 2013, respectively. Methods of soil nd grochemicl nlysis were used for plnt nd soil nlyses (Lu, 1999). Nutrient inputs included N, P, K from orgnic nd inorgnic fertilisers, nd nutrient outputs included N, P, K uptken y crops. The soil pprent nutrient lnce ws clculted y: soil pprent nutrient lnce (kg/h) = nutrient inputs (kg/h) - nutrient outputs (kg/h). Sttisticl nlyses were performed using SPSS 13.0 for Windows. An nlysis of vrince (ANOVA) test ws used to determine the tretment effects on the mesured vriles. A lest significnt difference (LSD) multiple-comprison test ws used to identify sttisticl differences mong the tretments. Results Effect of N ppliction on the yield of grlic nd grlic olt The men grlic ul yields of ech tretment reshown in Figure 1-A. Compred with no N ppliction (CK), grlic ul yields in the Tretment FP, OPT, CRF, nd OM-CF incresed y 31%, 29%, 55%, nd 18%, respectively. All these increses were sttisticlly significnt (P<0.05). In ddition, grlic ul yields in Tretment CRF were 18%, 20%, nd 30% higher thn in the Tretments FP, OPT, nd OM-CF, respectively. Compred with the yield from the Tretment OM-CF, the increses due to the ppliction of CRF were significnt (P<0.05), ut there ws no significnt difference for grlic ul yields mong Tretment FP, OPT, nd OM-CF. There ws no significnt difference for grlic olt yields etween Tretment CK nd Tretment FP, OPT (Figure 1-B). Grlic olt yields were lowest in Tretment CRF, while highest in Tretment OM-CF. The grlic olt yields in Tretment OM-CF were 15%, 22%, 16%, nd 35% higher thn those in Tretment CK, FP, OPT, nd CRF. Proceedings of the 2016 Interntionl Nitrogen Inititive Conference, "Solutions to improve nitrogen use efficiency for the world", 4 8 Decemer 2016, Melourne, Austrli. www.ini2016.com 2
50000 /h 40000 g k ld 30000 ie y l 20000 u r lic 10000 G 0 A c CK FP OPT OM-CF CRF 7500 /h 6000 g k 4500 ld ie y lt 3000 o r lic 1500 G 0 B c c CK FP OPT OM-CF CRF Tretment Tretment Figure 1. Grlic ul nd grlic olt yield in different fertilistion tretments. Different letters indicte significnt differences (P < 0.05). Effect of N ppliction on grlic economic enefits The cost of grlic seed, pesticide, nd griculturl film ws the sme in ll tretments. The lowest lour cost ws in Tretment CRF (Tle 2), s the fertiliser ws only pplied once s sl fertiliser. The fertiliser cost in ll tretments ws in the following decresing order: OM-CF > FP > OPT > CRF > CK. The totl revenue nd net income of grlic in ll tretments followed the order of CRF > FP OPT OM-CF > CK, when the price of grlic in 2013 ws considered. The net income of grlic in Tretment CRF ws 61%, 20%, 22% nd 35% higher thn those in Tretment CK, FP, OPT, nd OM-CF, respectively. The increse in income from the use of CRF ws sttisticlly higher thn from the other fertilisers (P<0.05). The rtio of net income to cost ws lowest in Tretment CK while highest in Tretment CRF. There ws no significnt difference in the rtio of net income to cost etween Tretment CK nd OM-CF, nd etween Tretment FP nd OPT. Tle 2. Averge nnul evlution of economic enefit of grlic in different fertiliser tretments (costs nd grlic price sed on those in Shndong in 2013) Tretments cost (Yun/h) Totl income Net income Seed, pesticide, Lor cost Fertiliser (Yun/h) (Yun/h) griculturl film Net income/cost CK 24000 15900 2424 128384 c 94160 c 3.75 c FP 24000 15900 3369 162296 127127 4.61 OPT 24000 15900 3099 160350 125451 4.59 OM-CF 24000 15900 5149 150563 113613 4.07 c CRF 24000 15150 3047 186915 152819 5.48 Vlues mrked with different letters in the sme column re significntly different (P<0.05). Effect of N ppliction on soil pprent nutrient lnce The N nd P uptke in grlic ws highest in Tretment CRF nd lowest in Tretment CK (Tle 3). There ws no significnt difference for nutrient uptke etween Tretment FP nd OPT. The pprent N deficiency in soil ws 86 kg N/h in Tretment CRF, while the pprent surplus N in soil ws 50 nd 21 kg N/h in Tretment FP nd OM-CF, respectively. Apprent P deficiency in soil occurred in ll tretments. Apprent K deficit in soil ws 20 kg K/h in Tretment CRF, while the pprent surplus K from fertilisers in soil ws 59, 25 nd 10 kg/h in Tretment CK, OPT nd OM-CF, respectively. Tle 3. Soil nutrient lnce in different fertiliztion tretments Tretments Nutrient input (kg/h) Nutrient output (kg/h) Nutrient net lnce (kg/h) N P K N P K N P K CK 0 39 224 191d 80d 165c -191-41 59 FP 300 52 212 250 106 213 50-54 -1 OPT 240 39 224 240 98c 199 0-59 25 OM-CF 240 39 224 219c 89cd 214 21-50 10 CRF 192 39 224 278 112 244-86 -73-20 CK= no N fertiliser, FP= ure t 300 kg/h, OPT= ure t 240 kg/h, OM-CF= comined ure nd commercil orgnic fertilisers t 120 kg/h ech, CRF= controlled-relese nitrogen fertiliser t 192 kg/h Proceedings of the 2016 Interntionl Nitrogen Inititive Conference, "Solutions to improve nitrogen use efficiency for the world", 4 8 Decemer 2016, Melourne, Austrli. www.ini2016.com 3
Discussion Compred with the nutrient level stndrd developed from the ntionl soil survey, ville nutrients in the soil in this study re were generlly rich (Ntionl Soil Survey Office, 2002). The controlled-relese N fertiliser hd the est effect on grlic growth mong ll tretments, even when the N ppliction rte ws lowest. This reflects the high N use efficiency of controlled relese N fertiliser, with the N relesed from the controlled-relese fertiliser mtching the N needed y grlic growth during criticl periods (Zerth et l., 2012). However, the grlic olt yield in Tretment CRF experienced the lowest effect from the fertiliser, possily due to insufficient N supply through the olting period ( lter period of growth). Therefore, the ddition of N during tht criticl growth period could increse the yield of grlic olt. The economic enefits in Tretment CRF ws est, due to the low rte of N fertiliser ppliction nd lour costs. Compred with conventionl N fertilistion (ie. the Tretment FP), 20% reduction of N use will not significntly ffect grlic ul nd grlic olt yield nd its economic enefits. However, the rtio of net income to the cost of Tretment OM-CF ws significntly lower thn Tretment FP nd OPT, due to the expensive of orgnic fertiliser. However, long-term orgnic fertiliser pplictions cn mintin soil fertility nd promote grlic yield (Zhng et l., 2013). Nutrient deficiency nd surpluses in soil depended on the input of fertilisers nd nutrient uptke y grlic, which determined the soil sustinle production cpcity. The results in the study indicted tht conventionl N ppliction (ie. the tretment FP) could mintin grlic growth, resulting in N surplus in soil. P deficit in soil ws oserved in ll tretments, indicting tht P fertiliser needs to e dequtely incresed to mintin n optimum P level in soil. It is noteworthy tht the controlled-relese N fertiliser cn produce high yields of crop, t the expense of plnt excessive uptke of soil nutrients. It is suggested tht P nd K fertilisers e pplied when controlled relese fertiliser is used to mintin soil nutrient lnced. Improvement of the controlled relese fertiliser should supply N t the criticl period of grlic growth. Conclusion N surplus occurred in the conventionl N ppliction tretment when the N ws pplied t 300 kg N /h. Compred with the conventionl N ppliction, 20% reduction of N fertiliser did not significntly ffect grlic yield nd its economic enefits. A 36% reduction of N fertiliser, using controlled relese N fertiliser, could increse grlic yield nd its economic enefits, ut would result in nutrient deficit soil which would ffect long-term soil nutrient lnce. Acknowledgements This work ws supported y the Ntionl Key Technology R&D Progrm of the Ministry of Science nd Technology (2012BAD15B02), The Youth Scientific Reserch Foundtion of Shndong Acdemy of Agriculturl Sciences (2016YQN40), Key projects of scientific nd technologicl innovtion of Shndong Acdemy of Agriculturl Sciences (2014CXZ01), nd Tishn Scholrs Progrm for Overses Experts. References Byn L, Koulivnd PH nd Gorji A (2014). Grlic: review of potentil therpeutic effects. Avicenn Journl of Phytomedicine. 4, 1-14. Lu R (1999). Methods of Soil nd Agrochemicl Anlysis. Chin Agriculturl Science nd Technology Press, Beijing. Ntionl Soil Survey Office (2002). Chin Soil. Chin Agriculturl Science nd Technology Press, Beijing. Smvten N, Rfiee S, Moli H nd Mohmmdi A (2011). An nlysis of energy use nd reltion etween energy inputs nd yield, costs nd income of grlic production in Irn. Renewle Energy. 36, 1808-1813. Svci S (2012). Investigtion of effect of chemicl fertilizers on environment. APCBEE Procedi. 1, 287-292. Zerth BJ, Snowdon E, Burton DL, Goyer C nd Dowenko R (2012). Controlled relese fertilizer product effects on potto crop response nd nitrous oxide emissions under rin-fed production on medium-textured soil. Cndin Journl of Soil Science. 92, 759-769. Zhng W, Jing Y, Meng P nd Song S (2013). Effects of io-orgnic fertilizers on development nd yield of grlic. Journl of Guizhou Agriculturl Sciences. 41, 63-65. Zhng W, Liu Z, Jing L, Zheng F, Zhong Z, Wng M, Lin H nd Song X (2008). Effect of nitrogen fertiliztion nd optiml ppliction N rtes on grlic nutrition. Chinese Agriculturl Science Bulletin. 24, Proceedings of the 2016 Interntionl Nitrogen Inititive Conference, "Solutions to improve nitrogen use efficiency for the world", 4 8 Decemer 2016, Melourne, Austrli. www.ini2016.com 4
254-259. Proceedings of the 2016 Interntionl Nitrogen Inititive Conference, "Solutions to improve nitrogen use efficiency for the world", 4 8 Decemer 2016, Melourne, Austrli. www.ini2016.com 5