Evaluation of Nitrogen Use Efficiency Indices of New and Old Barley Cultivars in Climatic Conditions of Golestan Province (Case Study: Gonbad Kavoos)

Mirzaei, Ali Asghar; Rahemi Karizki, Ali; Nakhzari-Moghadam, Ali; Gholizadeh, Abdol Latif

doi:10.22067/jag.v10i4.62525

Evaluation of Nitrogen Use Efficiency Indices of New and Old Barley Cultivars in Climatic Conditions of Golestan Province (Case Study: Gonbad Kavoos)

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

Department of Crop Production, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gonbad Kavos University, Gonbad Kavos, Iran

10.22067/jag.v10i4.62525

Abstract

Introduction
Among all the fertilizers applied in the field, nitrogen (N) is the most important element for plant growth, plant productivity and grain quality. It is important to define the complex trait of nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) before considering its improvement through breeding and N management strategies. NUE defined as grain dry matter yield per unit of available N (from the soil and/or fertilizer) divided it into two components, including (i) N-uptake efficiency (crop N uptake/N available; UPE) and (ii) N-utilization efficiency (grain dry matter yield/crop N uptake; UTE). N utilization efficiency (UTE) divided into two components, including harvest index (HI) and biomass production efficiency (BPE). Nitrogen utilization efficiency comprises harvest index (HI) and biomass production efficiency (BPE). The objective of this study was to determine the significance and magnitude of variation in N content, NUE, NUpE, NUtE, and grain protein concentration among diverse barely genotypes in years of release. Specifically, we wanted to determine if there was a positive correlation between these factors and grain yield.
Materials and Methods
This field experiment was conducted under optimal condition, at the Gonbad University of Agricultural Sciences Research Farm, during the growing seasons of 2014-2015. The eight cultivars were sown in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Plots consisted of 5 rows with 5 m long and 0.20 m apart. Seeding rate was calculated for each cultivar using percentage germination and 1000-seed weight to achieve a density of 270 plant m-2. Plant samples were separated in two components at anthesis (leaf + culm and chaff-flowered spikes) and three components at maturity [leaf + culm, chaff (rachis, glumes, awns), and grain]. Samples were dried at 70˚C for 3 d and dry matter (DM) were weighed. N content of the plant parts was measured using a modified version of the Kjeldahl procedure. At harvest, a 1.5 m2 portions at the center of each wheat plot was sampled to determine their biomass and harvest index. Statistical analysis was carried out using the SAS software package. Differences among the treatments were evaluated with the least significant difference (LSD).
Results and Discussion
Analysis of variance for grain yield, NUE, NUtE and NHI traits showed that cultivars had significant differences in %1 level while protein percent and NUpE was significant in %5 levels. Nitrogen use efficiency ranged from 4.30 to 14.13 g m-2, depending on cultivar. Low yielding cultivars had the lowest NUE values. Average value for NUE was 6.99 g m-2. Relationships between NUE measurements with NUtE and NUpE were evaluated by linear regression. There was a strong and statistically significant relationship between NUE with NUtE and NUpE for all barely cultivars. Grain yield ranged from 184.87 to 603.11 gr m-2. Grain yield positively correlated with NUE and a negatively correlated with grain protein concentration.
Conclusion
The results revealed that during breeding activities for barely yield improvement, NUE and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) were increased; while there was no changes for nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE). Because NUE divided into two components of NUtE and NUpE, most of the breeding effects on NUE were associated with change in nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE). It seems that during year of release of barely cultivars no changes was observed for improvement of protein concentration. It appears that in studied cultivars, grain harvest index increased more rapidly than nitrogen harvest index which means no changes or decline of grain protein percent.

Keywords

20.1001.1.20087713.1397.10.4.14.8

References

Abeledo, L.G., Calderini, D.F., and Slafer, G.A. 2008. Nitrogen economy in old and modern malting barley. Field Crops Research 106: 171–178.

Ahmadi, K., Gholizade, H., Ebadzade, H.R., Hossinpour, R., Hatami, F., fazli, B., Kazemiyan, A., and Rafiei, M. 2015. Agricultural statistics. Ministry of Agriculture p169. (In Persian)

Anbessa, Y., and Juskiw, P. 2012. Strategies to increase nitrogen use efficiency of spring barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 92: 617-625.

Anbessa, Y., Juskiw, P., Good, A., Nyachiro, J., and Helm, J. 2009. Genetic variability in nitrogen use efficiency of spring barley. Crop Science 49: 1259–1269.

Ayadi, S., Karmous, C., Hammami, Z., Trifa, Y., and Rezgui, S. 2014. Variation of durum wheat yield and nitrogen use efficiency under Mediterranean rain fed environment. International Journal of Agriculture and Crop Sciences 7(10): 693-699.

Beatty, P.H., Anbessa, Y., Juskiw, P., Carroll, R.T., Wang, J., and Good, A.G. 2010. Nitrogen use efficiencies of spring barley grown under varying nitrogen conditions in the field and growth chamber. Annals of Botany 105: 1171–1182.

Chen, Y., Xiao, C., Wu, D., Xia, T., Chen, Q., Chen, F., Yuan, L., and Mi, G. 2015. Effects of nitrogen application rate on grain yield and grain nitrogen concentration in two maize hybrids with contrasting nitrogen remobilization efficiency. European Journal of Agronomy 62: 79-89.

Foulkes, M.J., Reynolds, M.P., and Sylvester-Bradley, R. 2009. Genetic improvement of grain crops: yield potential. PP 355–386 in: Sadras, V.O., Calderini, D.F. (Eds.), Crop Physiology applications for genetic improvement and agronomy. Academic Press, Amsterdam.

Ghasemi, A., Ghanbari, A., Fakheri, B.A., and Fanaie, H.R. 2016. Effect of different fertilizer resources on yield and yield components of grain maize (Zea mays L.) influenced by tillage managements. Journal of Agroecology 7(4): 499-512.

Giambalwo, D., Ruisi, P.G., and Miceli D. 2010. Nitrogen use efficiency and nitrogen fertilizer recovery of durum wheat genotypes as affected by interspecific competition. Agronomy journal 102(2): 707-715.

Haji Hoseinlou, S., Ebadi, A., Ghaffari, M., and Mostafaei, E. 2013. Nitrogen use efficiency under water deficit condition in spring barley. International Journal of Agronomy and Plant Production 4: 3681-3687.

Ju, C., Buresh, R.J., Wang, Z., Zhang, H., Liu, L., Yang, J., and Zhang, J. 2015. Root and shoot traits for rice varieties with higher grain yield and higher nitrogen use efficiency at lower nitrogen rates application. Field Crops Research 175: 47-55.

Koocheki, A., Nassiri Mahallati, M., Moradi, R., and Alizade, Y. 2015. Evaluation of yield and nitrogen use efficiency of maize and cotton intercropping under different nitrogen levels. Iranian Journal of Field Crops Research 13(1): 1-13. (In Persian)

Li, P., Chen, F., Cai1, H., Liu, J., Pan, Q., Liu, Z., Gu, R., Mi, G., Zhang, F., and Yuan, L. 2015. A genetic relationship between nitrogen use efficiency and seedling root traits in maize as revealed by QTL analysis. Journal of Experimental Botany 66(20): 1-14.

Li, Z., Li, B., and Tong, Y. 2008. The contribution of distant hybridization with decaploid Agropyron elongatum to wheat improvement in China. Journal of Genet. Genomics 35: 451–456.

Ma, W., Li, J., Ma, L., Wang, F., Sisak, I., Cushman, G., and Zhang, F. 2009. Nitrogen flow and use efficiency in production and utilization of wheat, rice, and maize in China. Agricultural Systems 99: 53–63.

Muurinen, S., Kleemola, J., and Peltonen-Sainio, P. 2007. Accumulation and translocation of nitrogen in spring cereal cultivars differing in nitrogen use efficiency. Agronomy Journal 99: 441–449.

Muurinen, S., Slafer, G.A., and Peltonen-Sainio, P. 2006. Breeding effects on nitrogen use efficiency of spring cereals under northern conditions. Crop Science 46: 561–568.

Nakhzari Moghaddam, A. 2016. Effect of nitrogen and different intercropping arrangements of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) on forage yield and competitive indices. Journal of Agroecology 8(1): 47-58.

Picard, D., Ghiloufi, M., Saulas, P., and de Tourdonnet, S. 2010. Does under sowing winter wheat with a cover crop increase competition for resources and is it compatible with high yield. Field Crops Research 115: 9–18.

Rahemi Karizaki, A., Galeshi, S., and Soltani, A. 2015. Compare of nitrogen economy between new and old varieties of wheat in 38 last years in Golestan Province. Journal of crop production 7(3):17-32. (In Persian)

Shanahan, J.F., Kitchen, N.R., Raun, W.R., and Schepers, J.S. 2008. Responsive in-season nitrogen management for cereals. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 61: 51–62.

Shejbalova, Š., Černý, J., Vašak, F. Kulhanek, M., and Balik, J. 2014. Nitrogen efficiency of spring barley in long-term experiment. Plant Soil Environmental 60(7): 291–296.

Soleymani, F., and Ahmadvand, G. 2016. The effect of chemical, biological and organic nutritional treatments on sunflowers yield and yield components under water deficit stress. Journal of Agroecology 8(1): 107-119.

Soltani, A. 2007.Application of SAS in statistical analysis. Jehad Daneshgahi Publisher. p182.

Syeidi, M., and Rezvani Moghadm, P. 2011. Study yield, its components and nitrogen use efficiency using of compost mushroom, biological and urea fertilizer in wheat. Journal of Agroecology 3(3): 313-323.

Zand, N., Shakiba, M.R., Moghaddam-Vahed, M., and Dabbagh-Mohammadai-nasab, A. 2014.Response of sorghum to nitrogen fertilizer at different plant densities. International Journal of Farming and Allied Sciences 3: 71-74.