A New Critical Nitrogen Dilution Curve for Rice Nitrogen Status Diagnosis in Northeast China

In-season diagnosis of crop nitrogen(N) status is crucial for precision N management. Critical N(N_c) dilution curve and N nutrition index(NNI) have been proposed as effective methods to diagnose N status of different crops. The N_c dilution curves have been developed for indica rice in the tropical and temperate zones and japonica rice in the subtropical-temperate zone, but they have not been evaluated for short-season japonica rice in Northeast China. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the previously developed N_c dilution curves for rice in Northeast China and to develop a more suitable N_c dilution curve in this region. A total of17 N rate experiments were conducted in Sanjiang Plain, Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China from 2008 to 2013. The results indicated that none of the two previously developed N_c dilution curves was suitable to diagnose N status of the short-season japonica rice in Northeast China. A new N_c dilution curve was developed and can be described by the equation N_c = 27.7 W^(-0.34) if W ≥ 1 Mg dry matter(DM) ha^(-1) or N_c = 27.7 g kg^(-1) DM if W < 1 Mg DM ha^(-1), where W is the aboveground biomass. This new curve was lower than the previous curves. It was validated using a separate dataset, and it could discriminate non-N-limiting and N-limiting nutritional conditions. Additional studies are needed to further evaluate it for diagnosing N status of different rice cultivars in Northeast China and develop efficient non-destructive methods to estimate NNI for practical applications.

An integrated approach to site-specific management zone delineation

Dividing fields into a few relatively homogeneous management zones(MZs) is a practical and costeffective approach to precision agriculture. There are three basic approaches to MZ delineation using soil and/or landscape properties, yield information, and both sources of information. The objective of this study is to propose an integrated approach to delineating site-specific MZ using relative elevation, organic matter, slope, electrical conductivity, yield spatial trend map, and yield temporal stability map(ROSE-YSTTS) and evaluate it against two other approaches using only soil and landscape information(ROSE) or clustering multiple year yield maps(CMYYM). The study was carried out on two no-till corn-soybean rotation fields in eastern Illinois, USA. Two years of nitrogen(N) rate experiments were conducted in Field B to evaluate the delineated MZs for site-specific N management. It was found that in general the ROSE approach was least effective in accounting for crop yield variability(8.0%–9.8%), while the CMYYM approach was least effective in accounting for soil and landscape(8.9%–38.1%), and soil nutrient and pH variability(9.4%–14.5%). The integrated ROSE-YSTTS approach was reasonably effective in accounting for the three sources of variability(38.6%–48.9%, 16.1%–17.3% and 13.2%–18.7% for soil and landscape, nutrient and pH, and yield variability, respectively), being either the best or second best approach. It was also found that the ROSE-YSTTS approach was effective in defining zones with high,medium and low economically optimum N rates. It is concluded that the integrated ROSE-YSTTS approach combining soil, landscape and yield spatial-temporal variability information can overcome the weaknesses of approaches using only soil, landscape or yield information,and is more robust for MZ delineation. It also has the potential for site-specific N management for improved economic returns. More studies are needed to further evaluate their appropriateness for precision N and crop management.