N, P and K requirement and fertilizer use efficiencies of spring maize in Jilin Province

Objectives The N, P and K requirement and fertilizer use efficiencies of spring maize in Jilin Province were calculated, aiming to provide reference for reasonable and effective nutrient management.

Methods Data were collected from 680 “3414” field experiments, which were supported by the project of soil test and fertilizer recommendation in Jilin Province from 2005 to 2013. The five treatments, i.e. N₀P₀K₀, N₀P₂K₂, N₂P₀K₂, N₂P₂K₂ and N₂P₂K₀, were chosen to investigate the effects of N, P and K fertilization on maize yields, nutrient uptakes and their relationships with soil indigenous nutrient supply, and further to evaluate N, P and K requirement and fertilizer use efficiencies of spring maize in Jilin province.

Results Application of N, P and K fertilizers increased maize yields and nutrient uptakes significantly. The highest yield level of 9.6 t/hm² was observed in the NPK treatment, which was 42.5% higher than that in the N₀P₀K₀ treatment. The highest nutrient uptakes of N 190.8 kg/hm², P₂O₅ 87.0 kg/hm² and K₂O 215.1 kg/hm² were also found in the NPK treatment, which were 57.5%, 64.2% and 49.5% higher than those in the N₀P₀K₀ treatment, respectively. On the basis of full supply of other nutrients, the average increases in nutrient uptakes from N, P and K fertilizers were N 57.2 kg/hm² (42.9%), P₂O₅ 19.2 kg/hm² (28.4%) and K₂O 32.1 kg/hm² (17.5%), respectively. Across all the experiments, maize yields and nutrient uptakes of N, P and K showed significant upward trends with the increase of soil indigenous nutrient supply, which were reflected by the nutrient uptakes in maize plants of nutrient omission treatments, and all the relationships could be fitted with logarithmic function models. Production of 100 kg of grain need N 1.98 kg, P₂O₅ 0.90 kg and K₂O 2.24 kg, in ratio of 1∶0.45∶1.13. Nutrient deficiency reduced nutrient requirement of maize plants and expanded its variability across experiments. In the present spring maize production of Jilin Province, the average nutrient recovery efficiencies of N, P, and K fertilizers were 33.7%, 27.5%, and 45.3%, respectively, and the average physiological efficiencies were 28.8, 52.8, and 28.3 kg/kg, respectively.

Conclusions The maize production in Jilin highly relies on fertilizer nutrient supply, therefore, balanced and high level fertilization has to be kept.