Plant Soil Environ., 2014, 60(9):394-400 | DOI: 10.17221/188/2014-PSE

Winter wheat agronomic traits and nitrate leaching under variable nitrogen fertilizationOriginal Paper

I. Sestak, M. Mesic, Z. Zgorelec, I. Kisic, F. Basic
Department of General Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

In the long-term field trial on an arable dystric Stagnosols, winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) in lysimeter water were compared under treatments of 0, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 kg/ha of mineral nitrogen (N) during the growth years 1996/97, 1999/00, 2002/03 and 2005/06. Year properties significantly influenced N availability resulting in different responses of grain yield and NUE under variable treatments. Grain yield showed strong significant correlation with the rainfall accumulated from March to May (r = 0.77). In the case of a dry year 2003, winter wheat yield and NUE were adversely influenced by unfavourable climatic conditions. The optimal response of yield and NUE to increasing mineral N rates was found at the amount of 150-200 kg N/ha. Very strong significant correlation between the total amount of leached NO3--N and NUE was found for periods 1999/00 and 2005/06 where, in terms of increasing N levels, lower NUE conditioned higher NO3--N leaching (r = 0.91 and r = 0.94, respectively). According to the shallow depth of groundwater and installation of drainage systems, there is still a risk of freshwater contamination by nitrates if the N rates higher than 200 kg/ha were applied.

Keywords: Stagnosols; climate; water deficit; grain yield; nitrogen use efficiency

Published: September 30, 2014  Show citation

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Sestak I, Mesic M, Zgorelec Z, Kisic I, Basic F. Winter wheat agronomic traits and nitrate leaching under variable nitrogen fertilization. Plant Soil Environ. 2014;60(9):394-400. doi: 10.17221/188/2014-PSE.
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