Abstract:

Sulphur (S) is an essential nutrient required for all living organisms. The needs of higher plants for S have been recognized for over two centuries. However, interest in this essential element has lagged behind other nutrients because until recently deficiency of S has not been as extensive as that of N, P and K. Over the last two decades, however, many regions in the world have a fundamental shift in the S balance toward deficit in agricultural systems for several reasons. High analysis N and P fertilizers have gradually replaced traditional ones that contain S. In addition, yields of agricultural crops have increased markedly, and in some cases more than doubled, resulting in increased removal of nutrients, including S from soils, and so on. Deficiency of S has been recognized as a limiting factor for crop production in many regions in the world. Wheat is the most widely cultivated crop in the world. Although the crop has a relatively low requirement for S, deficiency of S in wheat has been observed in many countries. Apart from the clear effects on crop growth and grain yield, S nutrition can also exert a large influence on the quality of wheat. Previous studies focused on effects of single S fertilizer on growth and yield of wheat. This paper aims to compare the effects of different S fertilizer treatments on yield and quality of winter wheat cultivar Yumai 49. The experiment was carried out with applying of 5 kinds of sulphur fertilizers, respectively to the fields with available S content of 15.8 mg.kg^-1 at the rate of 60 kg.hm^-2 sulphur. The results indicated that the photosynthesis (CAP) rates in the treatment of sulphur fertilizers were much higher, and exhibited slower declines at the late grain filling stage, for example, CAP of S deficiency treatment（C0） was lowered 9.8%, 13.3%, 11.9%, 40.3% and 43.7% respectively, compared with the treatments of brimstone (C1), plaster (C2), calcium superphospate (C3), sulphate ammonium (C4) and potassium sulphate (C5) at late filling stage (Fig.1). The dry matter accumulation, harvest index, and grain weight were increased and finally grain yield of C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 were 18.8%, 20.3%,25.2%,18.5% and 14.9% higher respectively compared with C0，especially there was a significant difference at 0.01 probability level with C3 (Table 1). Meanwhile, activity of nitrate reductase (NR) in flag leaves and glutenin accumulation in grain at filling stage were enhanced, and starch pasting parameters of flour relating to cooking qualities of Chinese noodle, such as pasting time, through viscosity, peak viscosity and final viscosity were improved by S treatments. Comparing roundly the effects of 5 kinds S fertilizers on physiological traits, yield and quality of Yumai 49, calcium superphospate was the best.

Key words: Winter wheat(Triticum aestivum L.), Sulphur fertilizer, Grain yield, Quality