The Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer and Faba Bean Density in Rotation, on Maize Nitrogen Use Efficiency under No-till System

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• S Ghorbi ¹
• A Ebadi ²
• S Khomari ²
• M Hashemi ³

¹ PhD Candidate of Agronomy, Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

² Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

³ Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

10.22067/jcesc.2021.70506.1050

Abstract

Introduction
Sustainable agriculture is necessary to tackling environment pollutions whilst protecting food security and reducing dependence to fossil fuels. Conservative agriculture is a sustainable system for crop production which improves crops production. No-till system is one of the methods of Conservative agriculture which decreases greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion. Mulching is also one of the other methods of conservation agriculture which covers the soil surface with varied covering materials and decreases moisture losses and increases crops yield. Nitrogen is an essential element for plant and its deficiency causes plants growth and yield reduction. Grain legumes are a great source of protein for humans and livestock and recommended in areas under common agricultural systems within ecological focus. These crops have also the ability of biological nitrogen fixation through symbiotic bacteria with their roots, finally, produced nitrogen returns to the soil and reduces the nitrogen fertilizer demand for subsequent plants. However, only a fraction of nitrogen in their biomass will be available for the following crop. It is estimated that 41 to 50% of nitrogen fertilizer applied to Maize (Zea mays L.) has been lost to the environment. Thus, this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of faba bean cover crop-rotation on forage corn.
Materials and Methods
In order to study the effects of faba bean in rotation with corn, a field experiment was conducted in two growing seasons (2018-2019) at the research farm of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Faculty, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, located in Babolan village, Ardebil, Iran. Experimental treatments included faba bean densities (25, 35, 40, and 80 plants per square meter) and different levels of nitrogen fertilizer in forage corn (0, 100, 200 and 300 kg ha^-1). A local small-seeded variety of faba bean was used in this experiment and 80000 plants ha^-1 -of corn- Single cross hybrid (201). Nitrogen fertilizer was applied as urea at the V₅ stage of corn development by top dressing (in three stages). At maturity stage of faba bean, samples were taken by 0.5 × 0.5m quadrat for each plot. Grain yield was determined by harvesting seeds and dried in oven 65°C for 48 h and weighted by digital scale (0.01 g). Three plant of corn were cut randomly in each plot, thereafter were weighed to determine fresh forage yield. Shoot were dried in oven 75°C for 72 h and weighted for dry matter calculation (data converted to hectare). Statistical analysis of the data was performed by using of SAS software (version 9.4). Also, significant difference between the treatment means were tested with Duncan's Multiple Range Test at P<0.05.
Results and Discussion
Results indicated significant effects of faba bean plant densities on most of the traits. The maximum fresh and dry grain weight were obtained from densities of 80 and 40 plant per m². Also, the maximum grain nitrogen and grain crude protein were observed from 25 plants per m². 40 plant of faba bean per m² had the highest amount of seed dry matter, protein yield, protein harvest index, and productivity effort. Also, results of interaction effects showed that various densities of faba bean and different levels of nitrogen fertilizer had significant effect on forage corn. So that, the maximum dry matter yield and production efficiency was obtained from 40 plant of faba bean per m² and application of 200 kg niterogen per ha^-1. 35 plant of faba bean per m² without application of nitrogen fertilizer had the highest amount of nitrogen utilization efficiency.
Conclusions
Totally, results showed that faba bean rotation with corn could be a suitable alternative method for mono-cropped maize with high utilization of nitrogen fertilizer (density of 40 plant per m² of faba bean and application of 200 kg nitrogen per ha is recommended).

Keywords

• Chemical fertilizer
• Conservation agriculture
• Grain protein yield
• Legumes

20.1001.1.20081472.1400.19.3.7.3

Main Subjects

• Crop yield

---

References

1. Abdalla, M., Hastings, A., Cheng, K., Yue, Q., Chadwick, D., Espenberg, M., Truu, J., Rees, R. M., and Smith, P. A. 2019. Critical review of the impacts of cover crops on nitrogen leaching, net greenhouse gas balance and crop productivity. Global Change Biology Bioenergy 25: 2530-2543.
2. Adissie, S., Adgo, E., and Feyisa, T. 2020. Effect of rhizobial inoculants and micronutrients on yield and yield components of faba bean (Vicia faba) on vertisol of Wereillu district, South Wollo, Ethiopia. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 6 (1): 1747854. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2020.1747854. Accessed 13 Apr 2020.
3. Albayrak, S., Türk, M., and Yüksel, O. 2011. Effect of row spacing and seeding rate on hungarian vetch yield and quality. Turkish Journal of Field Crops 16 (1): 54-58.
4. Al-Suhaibani, N., El-Hendawy, S., and Schmidhalter, U. 2013. Influence of varied plant density on growth, yield and economic return of drip irrigated Faba bean (Vicia faba). Turkish Journal of Field Crops 18 (2): 185-197.
5. Askegaard, M., and Eriksen, J. 2007. Growth of legume and non-legume catch crops and residual-N effects in spring barley on coarse sand. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 170: 773-780.
6. Babaeian, , Javaheri, M., and Asgharzade, A. 2012. Effect of row spacing and sowing date on yield and yield components of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). African Journal of Microbiology Research 6 (20): 4340-4343.
7. Cox, W. J., Cherney, D. J. R., and Hanchar, J. J. 1998. Row spacing, hybrid, and plant density effects on corn silage yield and quality. Journal Production Agriculture 11: 128-134.
8. Daneshian, G., Majidi, S., Hashemi dezfoli, A., and Nourmohammadi, Gh. 2002. Effect of drought stress on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of two soybean (Glycine max) cultivars. Agronomy Science 1 (3): 35-46. (In Persian with English abstract).
9. Dendooven, L., Gutiérrez-Oliva, V. F., Patiño-Zúñiga, L., Ramírez-Villanueva, D. A., Verhulst, N., Luna-Guido, M., Marsch, R., Montes-Molina, J., Gutiérrez-Miceli, F. A., and Vásquez-Murrieta, S. 2012. Greenhouse gas emissions under conservation agriculture compared to traditional cultivation of maize in the central highlands of Mexico. Science of the Total Environment 431: 237-244.
10. 2018. Transforming food and agriculture to achieve the SDGs 20 interconnected actions to guide decision-makers, Rome.
11. Franke, A. C., Van den brand, G. J., Vanlauwe, B., and Giller, K. E. 2018. Sustainable intensification through rotations with grain legume in Sub-Saharan Africa. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 261: 172-185.
12. Ghanbar Birani,, Sekhavat, R., Osrosh, R., and Shimi, S. 2003. The effect of Hebrides and plant density on populations of weeds and faba bean yield. Iranian Journal of Crop Science 5: 315-327. (In Persian with English abstract).
13. Hasanalideh, A. H., and Hojati, M. 2012. Enhancing yield and nitrogen use efficiency of Brassica Napus using an integrated fertilizer management. Advances in Environmental Biology 6 (2): 641-647.
14. Hashem Abadi, D., and Sedaghat Hour, Sh. 2006. Effect of density and sowing date on yield and yield components of winter Mazandarani faba bean (Vicia faba). Journal of Agricultural Science 12: 135-142.
15. Garofalo, P., and Rinaldi, M. 2015. Leaf gas exchange and radiation use efficiency of sunflower (Helianthus anus) in response to different deficit irrigation strategies: From solar radiation to plant growth analysis. European Journal of Agronomy 64: 88-97.
16. Lal, R. 2015. Sequestering carbon and increasing productivity by conservation agriculture. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 70: 55A-62A.
17. Loss, S. P., Siddique, K. H. M., Martin L. D., and Crombie. A. 1998. Responses of faba bean (Vicia faba) to sowing rate in South-western Australia. Part II: canopy development, radiation absorption and dry matter partitioning. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 49: 999-1008.
18. Lupwayi, N. Z., and Kennedy, A. C. 2007. Grain legumes in northern Great Plains: Impacts on selected biological soil processes. Agronomy Journal 99 (6): 1700-1709.
19. Monteith, J. L. 1972. Solar radiation and productivity in tropical ecosystems. Journal of Applied Economics 9: 747-766.
20. Nandini, K. M., Sridhara, S., Shivanand, P., and Kumar, K. 2017. Effect of planting density and different genotypes on growth, yield and quality of guar. International Journal of Pure and Applied Bioscience 5: 320-328.
21. Niehues, B. J., Lamond, R. E., Godsey, C. B., and Olsen, C. J. 2004. Starter nitrogen fertilizer management for continuous No-till corn production. Agronomy Journal 96: 1412-1418.
22. Palm, C., Blanco-Canqui, H., DeClerck, F., Gatere, L., and Grace, P. 2014. Conservation agriculture and ecosystem services. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 187: 87-105.
23. Pandiaraj, S., Selvaraj, T., and Ramu, N. 2015. Effects of Crop Residue Management and Nitrogen Fertilizer on Soil Nitrogen and Carbon Content and Productivity of Wheat (Triticum aestivum ) in Two Cropping Systems. Journal Agricultural Science Technology 17: 249-260.
24. Uzoh, M., Igwe, C. A., Okebalama, C. B., and Babalola, O. O. 2019. Legume-maize rotation effect on maize productivity and soil fertility parameters under selected agronomic practices in a sandy loam soil. Scientific Reports, 9: 8539. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-43679-5. Accessed 12 June 2019.
25. Rahimizadeh, M., Kashani, A., Zare-Feizabadi, A., Koocheki, A. R., and Nassiri-Mahallati, M. 2010. Nitrogen use efficiency of wheat as affected by preceding crop, application rate of nitrogen and crop residues. Australian Journal of Crop Science 4 (5): 363-368.
26. Stagnari, F., Maggio, A., Galieni, A., and Pisante, M. 2017. Multiple benefits of legumes for agriculture sustainability. Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture, 4 (2). Available from: https://doi. org/10.1186/s40538-016-0085-1. Accessed February 2017.
27. Telkar, G., Singh, A. K., Kant, K., Solanki S. P. S., and Kumar, D. 2017. Types of Mulching and their uses for dryland condition. Biomolecule Reports, Ed. 4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320356488. Accessed 13 October 2017.
28. Seyedi, M., Hamzei, J., Ahmadvand, G., and Abutalebian, M. A. 2012. The evaluation of weed suppression and crop production in barley-chickpea intercrops. Sustainable Agricultural and Production Science 22 (3): 101-114. (in Persian with English abstract).
29. Tomar, S. S., and Tiwari, A. S. 1990. Production potential and economics of different crop sequences. Indian Journal of Agronomy 35 (1): 30-35.
30. Torabi Jafroudi, A., Hassanzadeh, A., and Fayaz Moghadam, A. 2007. Effect of plant population on some of morph physiological characteristics of two common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) cultivars. Pajouhesh and Sazandegi 74: 63-71. (in Persian with English abstract).
31. Vasilia, A., Fasoula A., and Roger, B. 2005. Divergent selection at ultra-low plant density for seed protein and oil content within soybean cultivars. Field Crops Research 91: 217-229.
32. Wang, X., Yang, Y., Zhao, J., Nie, J., Zang, H., Zeng, Z., and Olesen, J. E. 2020. Yield benefits from replacing chemical fertilizers with manure under water deficient conditions of the winter wheat–summer maize system in the North China Plain. European Journal Agronomy 119: 1-10.