Evaluation of Nitrogen Status in Dryland Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes Using 15N

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• V Feiziasl ¹
• A Fotovat ²
• A Astaraei ²
• A Lakzian ²
• M. A Mosavi Shalmani ³

¹ Dryland Agricultural Research Institute

² Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

³ Atomic Energy Organization

10.22067/gsc.v15i3.38360

Abstract

Introduction
Nitrogen (N) is the most important input in many Iranian cropping systems and applying the optimal amount of N in the right place at the right time is a significant challenge for wheat growers. Previous research results indicated that nitrogen fertilization can increase the use of soil moisture, which lead to increase of wheat grain yield in dryland area. Heat and drought stress are the most environmental factors that cause significant yield and quality reduction of dryland wheat by disruption of plant metabolism. Although these stresses, in most cases, are impossible to control, farmers can reduce their unfavorable effects by optimizing nitrogen fertilizer applications. Nitrogen use efficiency in different wheat genotypes depends on plant characteristics such as root system distribution, plant growth stages, plant nutrient requirements, soil moisture and temperature, soil nutrient content and nutrient interactions, some of these factors can be improved by nitrogen fertilizer management. Recently, the use of 15N in soil-plant systems is a great help to identify the actual uptake of nutrients from fertilizers. This technique determine nitrogen rate and application times, 15N derived from fertilizers , 5N use efficiency, fate of N residuals in soil profile and N accumulation and redistribution in plant organs exactly. In addition, many other new indices have been identified with high sensitivity to changes nitrogen status in plant such as remote sensing techniques. These indices are capable of higher accuracy and easy identification of nitrogen status in plant for instance insufficient, sufficient and excessive conditions. The most important of these indicators can be cited nitrogen stress index (NSI). There are high negative correlations between yield and grain components and are also high significant positive correlations among nitrogen uptake, nitrogen status in plant and plant relative chlorophyll meter (RCM). Therefore, nitrogen stress index (NSI) can identify the critical periods of nitrogen stress in dryland wheat that provide reasonable recommendations for the lifting of nitrogen nutrition restrictions.
Materials and Methods
To determine effect of rates and times of nitrogen applications on the production and nitrogen status of dryland wheat, this study was conducted as split-split plot design based on randomized complete block design with three replications as which 15N application times (fall, 2/3 in fall and 1/3 in spring) were assigned to the main plots and N rates were arranged to the sub plot (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha-1), and 7 wheat genotypes to the sub-sub plots (Azar2, Ohadi, Rasad and 4 other genotypes as genotype1 to genotype4) in three replications in Dryland Agricultural Research Institute (DARI) during 2011-12 cropping seasons. In three elongation (ZGS32), flowering (ZGS64) and maturity (ZGS87) stages, we determined wheat dry matter accumulation and nitrogen concentration. Nitrogen stress index (NSI) was calculated by plant N concentration and dry matter using Data fit 9 software. Plant chlorophyll content also was measured in the three upper developed leaves randomly in each plot by chlorophyll meter (SPAD-Hansatech, Cl-01 model) in three mentioned steps. Total nitrogen and 15N/14N isotopic ratio was determined in grain and straw by mass spectrometry method.
Results and Discussion
The results showed that nitrogen application time had no significant effect on yield and nitrogen uptake parameters. But, nitrogen application significantly increased dry matter (2052 kg ha-1), grain yield (1053 kg ha-1), biological yield (3403 kg ha-1), nitrogen uptake (21.8%), nitrogen uptake from fertilizer (10.3%), 15N% in plant (1.75 atom percent), N derived from fertilizers (21.9%), nitrogen stress index (0.3) and grain protein content (1.3) on average. Application of N60 was suitable rate to reduce nitrogen stress and optimal production of dryland wheat genotypes. Azar2 was the most desirable genotype while genotype1 and genotype2 were inappropriate genotypes in this respect.
Conclusions
The nitrogen stress index (NSI) and 15N derived from fertilizers (%Ndff) were the best indices to determine nitrogen status and nitrogen application times and rates for dryland wheat genotypes. The nitrogen status in plant was an effective factor for increase of grain protein.

Keywords

• grain yield
• Nitrogen stress index (NSI)
• 15N derived from fertilizer (%Ndff)

20.1001.1.20081472.1396.15.3.2.0

---

References

1. Abdel Monem, M. A. S., Harmsen, K., Lindsay, W. L., and Vlek, P. G. 1988. Fat of nitrogen - tagged urea applied to wheat in the arid Mediterranean region. PP 103-110 in A.Mara, P. N. Soltanpour and Amy Chouiard (eds.). Soil test calibration in West Asia and North Africa. Proc. of the Second Regional Workshop Ankara, Turkey, 1-6 Sept. 1987. ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria.

2. Acevedo, E., Silva, P., and Silva, H. 2009. Wheat growth and physiology. PP 1-31 in B.C. Curtis, S. Rajaram and H. Gomez Macpherson (eds.). Bread Wheat Improvement and Production. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 603 pp.

3. Asfary, F., and Charanek, A. 1997. Nitrogen fertilizer–use efficiency. Studies by Syrian Atomic Energy Commission using N–labelled fertilizers. PP 64-70 in J. Ryan (ed.). Accomplishments and future challenges in dryland soil fertility research in the Mediterranean area. ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria.

4. Austin, R. B. 1987. The climatic vulnerability of wheat. PP 123-135 in Proceedings of International Symposium on Climatic Variability and Food Security in Developing Countries, New Delhi, India. Pages 602.

5. Barbottin, A., Lecomte, C., Bouchard, C., and Jeuffroy, M. 2005. Nitrogen remobilization during grain filling in wheat: genotypic and environmental effects. Crop Science 45: 1141-1150.

6. Barnabas, B., Jager, K., and Feher, A. 2008. The effect of drought and heat stress on reproductive processes in cereals. Plan, Cell and Environment 31: 11-38.

7. Bashir, R., Norman, R. J., Bacon, R. K., and Wells, B. R. 1997. Accumulation and redistribution of fertilizer nitrogen-15 in soft red winter wheat. Soil Science Society of America Journal 61: 1407-1412.

8. Blevins, D. W., Wilkison, D. H., Kelly, B. P., and Silva, S. R. 1996. Movement of nitrate fertilizer to glacial till and runoff from a claypan soil. Journal of Environmental Quality 25: 584-593.

9. Borzouei, A., Kafi, M. Mousavishalmani, A., and Khorasani, A. 2013. The effect of salinity and nitrogen fertilizatizer on wheat yield and nitrogen use efficiency using stable isotope 15N. Iranian Journal of Water Research in Agriculture 26 (4): 501-516. (in Persian with English abstract).

10. Cassman, K. G., Dobermann, A., and Walters, D. T. 2002. Agroecosystems, nitrogen use efficiency, and nitrogen management. Ambio. 31: 132-140.

11. Ehdaie, B., Alloush, G. A., Madore, M. A., and Waines, J. G. 2006. Genotypic variation for stem reserves and mobilization in wheat. I. post anthesis changes in internode dry matter. Crop Science 46 (2): 735-746.

12. Ercoli, L., Lulli, L., Mariotti, M., Mosani, A., and Arduini, I. 2008. Post-anthesis dry matter and nitrogen dynamics in durum wheat as affected by nitrogen supply and soil water availability. European Journal of Agronomy 28: 138-147.

13. Feiziasl, V., and Pourmohammad, A. 2014. Effects of nitrogen rates and application time on agronomic efficiency of nitrogen and seed yield of drylands wheat genotypes. Soil and Water Science 24 (3): 93-104. (in Persian with English abstract).

14. Feiziasl, V., Jafarzadeh, J., Pala, M., and Mosavi, S. B. 2009. Determination of micronutrient critical Levels by plant response column order procedure for dryland wheat (Triticum aestivum. L.) in Northwest of Iran. International Journal of Soil Science 4 (1): 14-19.

15. Feiziasl, V., Kasraei, R., Moghaddam, M., and Valizadeh, G. 2004. Investigation on uptake limitation and nutrient deficiency diagnosis at applied phosphorus and zinc fertilizers by different methods in Sardari wheat, Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources 11: 23-33. (in Persian with English abstract).

16. Feiziasl, V., and Valizadeh, G. 2003. The effects of nitrogen rate and application times on wheat yield under dryland farming conditions. Iran. J. Soil Water Sci. 17: 29-38. (in Persian with English abstract).

17. Fiez, T. E., Pan, W. L., and Miller, B. C. 1995. Nitrogen efficiency analysis of winter wheat among landscape positions. Soil Science Society of America Journal 59: 1666-1671.

18. Fowler, D. B., and Brydon, J. 1989. No-till winter wheat production on the Canadian prairies: Placement of urea and ammonium nitrate fertilizers. Agronomy Journal 81: 518-524.

19. Gauer, L. E., Grant, C. A., Gehl, D. T., and Bailey, L. D. 1992. Effects of nitrogen fertilization on grain protein content, nitrogen uptake, and nitrogen use efficiency of six spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars in relation to estimated moisture supply. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 72: 235-241.

20. Ghafari, A., Eskandari, I., Hassanpour Hosni, M., Roostaei, M., and Feiziasl, V. 2007. Dry farming wheat: planting, cultivation and harvesting. Agricultural Education Publishing. p. 158. (in Persian).

21. Halse, N. J., Greenwood, E. A. N., Lapins, P., and Boundy, C. A. P. 2006. An analysis of the effects of nitrogen deficiency on the growth and yield of a Western Australian wheat crop. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 20 (6): 987-998.

22. Halvorson, A. D., Nielsen, D. C., and Reule, C. A. 2004. Nitrogen fertilization and rotation effects on no-till dryland wheat production. Agron. J. 96: 1196-1201.

23. Harmsen, K. 1984. Nitrogen fertilizer use in rainfed agriculture. Fertilizer Research 5: 371-382.

24. Johnston, A. M., and Fowler, D. B. 1991. No-till winter wheat production: response to spring applied nitrogen fertilizer form and placement. Agronomy Journal 83: 722-728.

25. Khan, I., Khalil, I. H., and Din, N. 2007. Genetic parameters for yield traits in wheat under irrigated and rainfed environments. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture 23 (4): 973-979.

26. Koenig, R. T., Cogger, C. G., and Bary, A. I. 2011. Dryland winter wheat yield, grain protein, and soil nitrogen responses to fertilizer and biosolids applications. Applied and Environmental Soil Science 2011: 1-9.

27. Kruse, J. K., Christians, N. E., and Chaplin, M. H. 2006. Remote sensing of nitrogen stress in creeping bentgrass. Agronomy Journal 98: 1640-1645.

28. Lopez-Bellido, L., Lopez-bellido, R. J., and Lopez-Bellido, F. J. 2006. Fertilizer nitrogen efficiency in Durum wheat under rainfed Mediterranean conditions: effect of split application. Agronomy Journal 98: 55-62.

29. Mahler, R. L., Koehler, F. E., and Lutcher, L. K. 1994. Nitrogen source, timing of application and placement: Effects on winter wheat production. Agronomy Journal 86: 637-642.

30. Mariana, A., Melaj, Hernan, E., Echeverria, Silvia C., Lopez, Guillermo S., Fernando, A., and Nestor, O. B. 2003. Timing of nitrogen fertilization in wheat under conventional and no-tillage system. Agronomy Journal 95: 1525-1531.

31. Miranzadeh, H., Emam, Y., Pilesjö, P., and Seyyedi, H. 2011. Water use efficiency of four dryland wheat cultivars under different levels of nitrogen fertilization. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 13: 843-854.

32. Mousavi Shalmani, M. 2008. Use of 15N isotope in soil fertility and plant nutrition (1 ed.). Iran: Nuclear Science & Technology Research Institute p. 394. (in Persian).

33. Nielsen, D. C., and Halvorson, A. D. 1991. Nitrogen fertility influence on wheat stress and yield of winter wheat. Agronomy Journal 83: 1065-1070.

34. Pala, M., Matar, A., and Mazid, A. 1996. Assessment of the effects of environmental factors on the response of wheat to fertilizer in on-farm trials in a Mediterranean type environment. Experimental Agriculture 32: 339-349.

35. Raun, W. R., and Johnson, G. V. 1999. Improving nitrogen use efficiency for cereal production. Agronomy Journal 91: 357-363.

36. Rice, W. A., Akhtar, M. E., Rohul Amin, Y., and Campbell, J. A. 1990. Wheat response to nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers in rainfed areas of Pakistan. PP 66-75 in J. Ryan and A. Matar (eds.). Soil Test Calibration in West Asia and North Africa. Proc. of the Third Regional Workshop Amman, Jordan, 3-9.Spt.1988. ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria.

37. Roberts, T. L. 2008. Improving Nutrient Use Efficiency. Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry 32: 177-182.

38. Rodriguez, D., Fitzgerald, G. J., Belford, R., and Christensen, L. 2006. Detection of nitrogen deficiency in wheat from spectral reflectance indices and basic crop eco-physiological concepts. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 57: 781-789.

39. Ryan, J., Pala, M., Masri, S., Singh, M., and Harris, H. 2008. Rainfed wheat-based rotations under Mediterranean conditions: Crop sequences, nitrogen fertilization, and stubble grazing in relation to grain and straw quality. European Journal of Agronomy 28: 112-118.

40. Schepers, J. S., Moravek, M. G., Alberts, E. E., and Frank, K. D. 1991. Maize production impacts on groundwater quality. Journal of Environmental Quality 20: 12-16.

41. Sowers, K. E., Pan, W. L., Miller, B. C., and Smith, J. L. 1994. Nitrogen use efficiency of split nitrogen applications in soft white winter wheat. Agronomy Journal 86: 942-948.

42. Svoboda, P., and Haberle, J. 2006. The effect of nitrogen fertilization on root distribution of winter wheat. Plant Soil Environ 5 (7): 308-313.

43. Thomason, W. E., Raun, W. R., and Johnson, G. V. 2000. Winter wheat fertilizer nitrogen use efficiency in grain and forage production systems. Journal of Plant Nutrition 23: 1505-1516.

44. Tilling, K., Leary, G. J. O., Ferwerda, J. G., Jones, S. D., Fitzgerald, G. J., Rodriguez, D., and Belford, R. 2007. Remote sensing of nitrogen and water stress in wheat. Field Crops Research 104: 77-85.

45. Triboï, E., and Triboï-Blondel, A. M. 2002. Productivity and grain or seed composition: a new approach to an old problem – invited paper. European Journal Agronomy 16: 163-186.