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Improving wheat growth and nitrogen-use efficiency under waterlogged conditions

conference contribution
posted on 2023-05-23, 12:46 authored by Kisaakye, E, Tina AcunaTina Acuna, Peter JohnsonPeter Johnson, Sergey ShabalaSergey Shabala
Soil moisture content has a significant impact on nutrient availability in wheat. Excessive soil moisture due to waterlogging can severely reduce nutrient availability through substantial dilution of nutrient concentrations and leaching of mobile nutrients like nitrogen (N). Nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) may be improved by using controlled-release fertilisers (CRFs) and appropriate timing of N fertiliser application. This study investigated whether timing of N application and source of applied N can alleviate the adverse effects of waterlogging on wheat growth and improve NUE. The experiment was designed as a split-plot with irrigation regime and N fertiliser application as main-plot and subplot factors and three replicates. The irrigation regime included: rainfed, irrigated and waterlogged while N fertiliser application had nil N, single-applied urea, split-applied urea and CRF treatments. At harvest, tiller number, ear number, grain yield and harvest index were determined. Nitrogen-use efficiency, its components and grain protein content were also determined. The results showed that waterlogging and N fertiliser application had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on tiller number, ear number, grain yield and NUE. The CRF had the highest grain yield for all irrigation regimes, with 9.2 t/ha, 9.4 t/ha and 6.8 t/ha for the rainfed, irrigated and waterlogged respectively. There were significant variations (P < 0.05) in NUE between different irrigation regimes and N fertiliser treatments. The CRF had the highest NUE for all irrigation regimes. Under waterlogged conditions, the CRF improved NUE by 17% and 27% more than single- and split- applied urea respectively.

Funding

Grains Research & Development Corporation

History

Publication title

Proceedings of the 18th Australian Agronomy Conference 2017

Editors

GJ O’Leary, RD Armstrong, L Hafner

Pagination

1-4

Department/School

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)

Publisher

Australian Society of Agronomy

Place of publication

Ballarat, Victoria

Event title

18th Australian Agronomy Conference 2017

Event Venue

Ballarat, Victoria

Date of Event (Start Date)

2017-09-24

Date of Event (End Date)

2017-09-28

Rights statement

Copyright 2017 Australian Society of Agronomy

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Wheat

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    University Of Tasmania

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