Welcome to Acta Agronomica Sinica，

Acta Agron Sin ›› 2011, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (07): 1259-1265.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1006.2011.01259

• TILLAGE & CULTIVATION·PHYSIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Responses of Corn (Zea mays L.) Nitrogen Status Indicators to Nitrogen Rates and Soil Moisture

ZHU Juan-Juan1,LIANG Yin-Li1,2,Tremblay Nicolas3,*   

  1. 1 College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China; 2 Institute of Soil Water and Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China; 3 Horticulture Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 430 Bloul. Gouin, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, J3B 3E6, Canada
  • Received:2010-12-20 Revised:2011-03-27 Online:2011-07-12 Published:2011-05-11
  • Contact: Nicolas.Tremblay@agr.gc.ca, Tel: +1-450-515-2102, Fax: +1-450-346-7740
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by SAGES funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-443-3).

PDF

1289

Cited

5

Abstract: Plants usually experience fluctuating water supply during their life cycle due to continuous changes in climatic factors. Soil water content (SWC) is one of the most critical factors affecting nitrogen (N) availability, movement, and uptake by crops. Consequently, SWC levels may confound the assessment of crop N status. The present study compared the sensitivity of tissue N concentration, SPAD readings, Dualex readings, and SPAD/Dualex ratios for assessing corn (Zea mays L.) N status under different water supply conditions. A greenhouse trial was conducted with four N fertilizer application rates (0, 50, 50+75, and 200 kg ha-1) and three watering levels (drought, drought followed by rewatering, and fully-watered). Tissue N concentration, SPAD, Dualex, and SPAD/Dualex values were influenced significantly by N rates and by SWC. Tissue N concentration, SPAD, and SPAD/Dualex increased with N rates, whereas Dualex decreased. In the first phase of reaction to drought, tissue N concentration, SPAD and SPAD/Dualex decreased rapidly but Dualex increased; however, the opposite pattern of response was observed in the long term. Under rewatering, tissue N concentration, Dualex and SPAD/Dualex gradually recovered, whereas SPAD values did not change significantly as they did in the drought treatment. There were highly significant relationships between SPAD (r=0.92), Dualex (r= -0.86), or SPAD/Dualex (r=0.63) and tissue N concentration. However, SPAD and Dualex were better predictors of tissue N concentration under drought conditions (SPAD:r=0.90;Dualex:r= -0.83) than under fully-watered conditions (SPAD:r=0.39; Dualex:r= -0.44) at the end of the trial. Among the indicators, Dualex was better able to discriminate N treatments, with consistent results across SWC levels.

Key words: Indicators, N status, drought, water recovery

[1]Argenta G, Ferreira da Silva P R, Sangoi L. Leaf relative chlorophyll content as an indicator parameter to predict nitrogen fertilization in maize. Ciência Rural, Santa Maria, 2004, 34: 1379–1387
[2]Piekielek W P, Fox R H, Toth J D, Macneal K E. Use of a chlorophyll meter at the early dent stages of corn to evaluate nitrogen sufficiency. Agron J, 1995, 87: 403–408
[3]Vidal I, Longeri L, Hètier J M. Nitrogen uptake and chlorophyll meter measurements in spring wheat. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst, 1999, 55: 1–6
[4]Tremblay N, Fortier É, Mellgren R, Belec C, Jenni S. The Dualex—a new tool to determine nitrogen sufficiency in broccoli. Acta Hortic, 2009, 824: 121–131
[5]Schröder J J, Neeteson J J, Oenema O, Struik P C. Does the crop or the soil indicate how to save nitrogen in maize production? Reviewing the state of the art. Field Crops Res, 2000, 66: 151–164
[6]Blackmer T M, Schepers J S. Use of a chlorophyll meter to monitor nitrogen status and schedule fertigation for corn. J Prod Agric, 1995, 8: 56–60
[7]Samborski S M, Tremblay N, Fallon E. Strategies to make use of plant sensors-based diagnostic information for nitrogen recommendations. Agron J, 2009, 101: 800–816
[8]Goulas Y, Cerovic Z G, Cartelat A, Moya I. Dualex: a new instrument for field measurements of epidermal ultraviolet absorbance by chlorophyll fluorescence. Appl Opt, 2004, 43: 4488–4496
[9]Cartelat A, Cerovic Z G, Goulas Y, Meyer S, Lelarge C, Prioul J L, Barbottinc A, Jeuffroy M H, Gate P, Agati G, Moya I. Optically assessed contents of leaf polyphenolics and chlorophyll as indicators of nitrogen deficiency in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Field Crops Res, 2005, 91: 35–49
[10]Tremblay N, Wang Z, Bèlec C. Evaluation of the Dualex for the assessment of corn nitrogen status. J Plant Nutr, 2007, 30: 1355–1369
[11]Ksouri R, Megdiche W, Debez A, Falleh H, Grignon C, Abdelly C. Salinity effects on polyphenol content and antioxidant activities in leaves of the halophyte Cakile maritime. Plant Physiol. Biochem, 2007, 45: 244–249
[12]Jones C G, Hartley S E. A protein competition model of phenolic allocation. OIKOS, 1999, 86: 27–44
[13]Meyer S, Cerovic Z G, Goulas Y, Montpied P, Demotes-Mainard S, Bidel L P R, Moya I, Dreyer E. Relationships between optically assessed polyphenols and chlorophyll contents and leaf mass per area ratio in woody plants: a signature of the carbon-nitrogen balance within leaves? Plant Cell Environ, 2006, 29: 1338–1348
[14]Cheruiyot E K, Mumera L M, Ngètich W K, Hassanali A, Wachira F. Polyphenols as potential indicators for drought tolerance in tea (Camellia sinensis L.). Biosci Biotechnol Biochem, 2007, 71: 2190–2197
[15]Liao C F H, Bartholomew WV. Relation between nitrate absorption and water transpiration by maize. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc, 1974, 38: 472–479
[16]Buljovcic Z, Engels C. Nitrate uptake ability by maize roots during and after drought stress. Plant Soil, 2001, 229: 125–135
[17]Martìnez D E, Guiamet J J. Distortion of the SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter readings by changes in irradiance and leaf water status. Agron J, 2004, 24:41–46
[18]Scalabrelli G, Saracini E, Remorini D, Massai R. Changes in leaf phenolic compounds in two grapevine varieties (Vitis vinifera L.) grown in different water conditions. Acta Hortic, 2007, 754: 295–299
[19]Estiarte M, Penuelas J, Kimball B A, Hendrix D L, Pinter P J, Wall G W, LaMorte R L, Hunsaker D J. Free-air CO2 enrichment of wheat: leaf flavonoid concentration throughout the growth cycle. Physiol Plant, 1999, 105: 423–433
[20]Isaac R A, Johnson W C. Determination of total nitrogen in plant tissue using a block digester. J Assoc Off Anal Chem, 1976, 59: 98–100
[21]Lachat Instruments. 2005. Methods list for automated ion analyzers (flow injection analyses, ion chromatography)
[2005-4-8] http://www. lachatinstruments.com/ applications/MethodsList.PDF.
[22]SAS Institute. SAS for windows. V.9.1. SAS Inst., Cary, NC, 2003
[23]Little T M, Hills F J. Agricultural Experimentation: Design and Analysis. Paperback. Wiley, 1978
[24]Hedeker D, Gibbons R D. Longitudinal data analysis. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, 2006
[25]Klaus H, Oscar K. Design and Analysis of Experiments. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, 2008
[26]Elwadie M E, Pierce F J, Qi J. Remote sensing of canopy dynamics and biophysical variables estimation of corn in Michigan. Agron J, 2005, 97: 99–105
[27]Schlemmer M R, Francis D D, Shanahan J F, Schepers J S. Remotely measuring chlorophyll content in corn leaves with differing nitrogen levels and relative water content. Agron J, 2005, 97: 106–112
[28]Sanchez R A, Hall A J, Trapani N, de Hunau R C. Effects of water stress on the chlorophyll content, nitrogen level and photosynthesis of leaves of two maize genotypes. Photosynth Res, 1983, 4: 35–47
[29]Muh J, Franke J, Borken W. Drying–rewetting events reduce C and N losses from a Norway spruce forest floor. Soil Biol Biochem, 2010, 42: 1303–1312
[30]Horner J D. Nonlinear effects of water deficits on foliar tannin concentration. Biochem Syst Ecol, 1990, 18: 211–213
[31]Nicolas M, Simpson R J, Lambers H, Dalling M J. Effects of drought on partitioning of nitrogen in two wheat varieties differing in drought-tolerance. Ann. Bot, 1985, 55: 743–754
[32]Liu R X, Zhou Z G, Guo W Q, Chen B L, Oosterhuis D M. Effects of N fertilization on root development and activity of water-stressed cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) plants. Agric Water Manag, 2008, 95: 1261–1270
[1] CHEN Song-Yu, DING Yi-Juan, SUN Jun-Ming, HUANG Deng-Wen, YANG Nan, DAI Yu-Han, WAN Hua-Fang, QIAN Wei. Genome-wide identification of BnCNGC and the gene expression analysis in Brassica napus challenged with Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and PEG-simulated drought [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(6): 1357-1371.
[2] ZHOU Wen-Qi, QIANG Xiao-Xia, WANG Sen, JIANG Jing-Wen, WEI Wan-Rong. Mechanism of drought and salt tolerance of OsLPL2/PIR gene in rice [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(6): 1401-1415.
[3] LI Yi-Jun, LYU Hou-Quan. Effect of agricultural meteorological disasters on the production corn in the Northeast China [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(6): 1537-1545.
[4] WANG Xing-Rong, LI Yue, ZHANG Yan-Jun, LI Yong-Sheng, WANG Jun-Cheng, XU Yin-Ping, QI Xu-Sheng. Drought resistance identification and drought resistance indexes screening of Tibetan hulless barley resources at adult stage [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(5): 1279-1287.
[5] LI A-Li, FENG Ya-Nan, LI Ping, ZHANG Dong-Sheng, ZONG Yu-Zheng, LIN Wen, HAO Xing-Yu. Transcriptome analysis of leaves responses to elevated CO2 concentration, drought and interaction conditions in soybean [Glycine max (Linn.) Merr.] [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(5): 1103-1118.
[6] WANG Xia, YIN Xiao-Yu, Yu Xiao-Ming, LIU Xiao-Dan. Effects of drought hardening on contemporary expression of drought stress memory genes and DNA methylation in promoter of B73 inbred progeny [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(5): 1191-1198.
[7] DING Hong, XU Yang, ZHANG Guan-Chu, QIN Fei-Fei, DAI Liang-Xiang, ZHANG Zhi-Meng. Effects of drought at different growth stages and nitrogen application on nitrogen absorption and utilization in peanut [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(3): 695-703.
[8] WANG Yang-Yang, HE Li, REN De-Chao, DUAN Jian-Zhao, HU Xin, LIU Wan-Dai, GU Tian-Cai, WANG Yong-Hua, FENG Wei. Evaluations of winter wheat late frost damage under different water based on principal component-cluster analysis [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(2): 448-462.
[9] ZHANG Hai-Yan, XIE Bei-Tao, JIANG Chang-Song, FENG Xiang-Yang, ZHANG Qiao, DONG Shun-Xu, WANG Bao-Qing, ZHANG Li-Ming, QIN Zhen, DUAN Wen-Xue. Screening of leaf physiological characteristics and drought-tolerant indexes of sweetpotato cultivars with drought resistance [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2022, 48(2): 518-528.
[10] CAO Liang, DU Xin, YU Gao-Bo, JIN Xi-Jun, ZHANG Ming-Cong, REN Chun-Yuan, WANG Meng-Xue, ZHANG Yu-Xian. Regulation of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in leaf of soybean cultivar Suinong 26 at seed-filling stage under drought stress by exogenous melatonin [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2021, 47(9): 1779-1790.
[11] ZHANG Ming-Cong, HE Song-Yu, QIN Bin, WANG Meng-Xue, JIN Xi-Jun, REN Chun-Yuan, WU Yao-Kun, ZHANG Yu-Xian. Effects of exogenous melatonin on morphology, photosynthetic physiology, and yield of spring soybean variety Suinong 26 under drought stress [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2021, 47(9): 1791-1805.
[12] YUE Dan-Dan, HAN Bei, Abid Ullah, ZHANG Xian-Long, YANG Xi-Yan. Fungi diversity analysis of rhizosphere under drought conditions in cotton [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2021, 47(9): 1806-1815.
[13] ZHANG Si-Meng, NI Wen-Rong, LYU Zun-Fu, LIN Yan, LIN Li-Zhuo, ZHONG Zi-Yu, CUI Peng, LU Guo-Quan. Identification and index screening of soft rot resistance at harvest stage in sweetpotato [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2021, 47(8): 1450-1459.
[14] LI Jie, FU Hui, YAO Xiao-Hua, WU Kun-Lun. Differentially expressed protein analysis of different drought tolerance hulless barley leaves [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2021, 47(7): 1248-1258.
[15] LI Hui, LI De-Fang, DENG Yong, PAN Gen, CHEN An-Guo, ZHAO Li-Ning, TANG Hui-Juan. Expression analysis of abiotic stress response gene HcWRKY71 in kenaf and transformation of Arabidopsis [J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2021, 47(6): 1090-1099.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited
  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!
Add: No. 80 Xueyuan South Rd, Beijing 100081, P. R. China E-mail: zwxb301@caas.cn
Supported by Beijing Magtech Co.Ltd