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Increased plant density of winter wheat can enhance nitrogen–uptake from deep soil

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Abstract

Background and Aims

Increased plant density improves grain yield and nitrogen (N)–use efficiency in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) by increasing the root length density (RLD) in the soil and aboveground N–uptake (AGN) at maturity. However, how the root distribution and N–uptake at different soil depths is affected by plant density is largely unknown.

Methods

A 2–year field study using the winter wheat cultivar Tainong 18 was conducted by injecting 15 N–labeled urea into soil at depths of 0.2, 0.6, and 1.0 m under four plant densities of 135 m−2, 270 m−2,405 m−2, and 540 m−2.

Results

We observed significant RLD and 15 N–uptake increases at each soil depth as the plant density increased from 135 to 405 m−2. 15 N–uptake increased with plant density as the soil depth increased, although the corresponding RLD value fell with depth. The 15 N–uptake at each soil depth was positively related to the RLD at the same depth. The total AGN was positively related to RLD in deep soil, especially at 0.8–1.2 m.

Conclusions

Increasing the plant density from 135 m−2 to the optimum increases AGN primarily by increasing the RLD in deep soil and therefore increasing the plant density of winter wheat can be used to efficiently recover N leached to deep soil. Moreover, the total root numbers per unit area and RLD still increased at supraoptimal density while shoot number and N uptake stagnated.

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Abbreviations

AGN:

Aboveground nitrogen–uptake

D95 :

The depth above which 95 % of all roots were located

RLD:

Root length density

NUE:

Nitrogen–use efficiency

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the reviewers and editors for their constructive reviews and suggestions for this paper. This research was funded by the National Basic Research (973) Program of China (2009CB118602) and the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201203096).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Innovation Team of Shandong Wheat–Corn Crops; National Key Lab. of Crop Biology, Key Lab. of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System, Ministry of Agriculture, Agronomy College of Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Xinglong Dai, Lili Xiao, Dianyong Jia, Haibo Kong, Yuechao Wang, Chuanxing Li, Yu Zhang & Mingrong He

  2. Life Science and Technology College, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang, 473061, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Dianyong Jia

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  1. Xinglong Dai
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  2. Lili Xiao
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  5. Yuechao Wang
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Correspondence to Mingrong He.

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Responsible Editor: Alain Pierret..

Xinglong Dai and Lili Xiao contributed equally to the article

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Dai, X., Xiao, L., Jia, D. et al. Increased plant density of winter wheat can enhance nitrogen–uptake from deep soil. Plant Soil 384, 141–152 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2190-x

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