Nutrient Management and Optimized Fertilization on Wheat and Maize in Shanxi Province

Previous studies have verified that the Nutrient Expert^(R) (NE)-based fertilizer recommendation can improve nutrient use efficiency without sacrificing grain yield for winter wheat and summer maize systems. This project in 2014 was conducted to validate NE for winter wheat and summer maize in farmer fields and compare them with farmer fertilizer practice (FP) in larger sized fields. Two sites with 1.7 ha were selected in Shanxi in 2014.

No significant difference in maize grain yield was observed between NE (7.8 t/ha) and FP treatment (8.0 t/ha), which received 150-64-62 kg N-P₂O₅-K₂O/ha and 256-70-48 kg N-P₂O₅-K₂O/ha, respectively. For winter wheat, NE produced a higher grain yield (8.0 t/ha) compared to FP treatment (7.1 t/ha); however, the NE treatment had a more balanced NPK application of 155-81-61 kg N-P₂O₅-K₂O/ha while FP supplied 281-114-48 kg N-P₂O₅-K₂O/ha. The results also showed that nutrient uptake under NE was equal to that under FP, which indicates that the quantity and balance of fertilizer supplied by NE was sufficient. It was concluded that NE can maintain grain yields within larger field sizes.