Effects of different nitrogen fertilizer management practices on wheat yields and N_2O emissions from wheat fields in North China

Nitrogen（N） is one of the macronutrients required for plant growth, and reasonable application of N fertilizers can increase crop yields and improve their quality. However, excessive application of N fertilizers will decrease N use efficiency and also lead to increases in N2O emissions from agricultural soils and many other environmental issues. Research on the effects of different N fertilizer management practices on wheat yields and N2O emissions will assist the selection of effective N management measures which enable achieving high wheat yields while reducing N2O emissions. To investigate the effects of different N management practices on wheat yields and soil N2O emissions, we conducted field trials with 5 treatments of no N fertilizer（CK）, farmers common N rate（AN）, optimal N rate（ON）, 20% reduction in optimal rate＋dicyandiamide（ON80%＋DCD）, 20% reduction in optimal rate＋nano-carbon（ON80%＋NC）. The static closed chamber gas chromatography method was used to monitor N2O emissions during the wheat growing season. The results showed that there were obvious seasonal characteristics of N2O emissions under each treatment and N2O emissions were mainly concentrated in the sowing-greening stage, accounting for 54.6–68.2% of the overall emissions. Compared with AN, N2O emissions were decreased by 23.1, 45.4 and 33.7%, respectively, under ON, ON80%＋DCD and ON80%＋NC, and emission factors were declined by 22.2, 66.7 and 33.3%, respectively. Wheat yield was increased significantly under ON80%＋DCD and ON80%＋NC by 12.3 and 11.9%, respectively, relative to AN while there was no significant change in yield in the ON treatment. Compared with ON, overall N2O emissions were decreased by 29.1 and 13.9% while wheat yields improved by 18.3 and 17.9% under ON80%＋DCD and ON80%＋NC, respectively. We therefore recommend that ON80%＋DCD and ON80%＋NC be referred as effective N management practices increasing yields while mitigating emissions.

India’s date with second demographic transition

Using data from various sources,this paper discusses the recently documented below replacement level fertility in India in the context of the universality of marriage of girls,most of which are arranged by the parents,and increase in their mean age at marriage,mainly due to decrease in child marriage.There is virtually no increase in divorce rate,cohabitation,or voluntary childlessness,except for some anecdotal evidence from metro cities.The paper shows that the transition to small family in India is not due to cultural shifts towards post-modern attitudes and norms that accept and stress individuality and self-actualization.It is largely due to high aspirations among urban middle-class parents for children which can be fulfilled when they have one or at most two children in view of the rising cost of private English medium education and health care.

Study on Cultivation Nutrition of Cunninghamia lanceolata Plantations with Multi-generation Management

Based on the previous study on cultivation nutrition of Cunninghamia lanceolata plantations of first generation, the cultivation nutrition of C. lanceolata plantations with multi-generation was studied. The results show that there are significant differences in the growth, development and nutrient assimilation among C. lanceolata plantations with different generations and nutrition conditions. These differences are closely related to the land fertility decline of C. lanceolata plantations. This paper de...