Combining controlled-release urea and normal urea with appropriate nitrogen application rate to reduce wheat stem lodging risk and increase grain yield and yield stability

Abstract

A mixture of controlled-release urea and normal urea (CRUNU) is an efficient nitrogen (N) fertilizer type, but little is known about its effects on stem lodging resistance, grain yield, and yield stability of wheat. In this study, a 4-year field experiment (from 2017 to 2021) was conducted to analyze the effects of N fertilizer types (CRUNU and normal urea (NU)) and application rates (low level (L), 135 kg ha−1; medium level (M), 180 kg ha−1; high level (H), 225 kg ha−1) on population lodging resistance, basal internode strength, lignin content and synthetase activity, stem lodging resistance, grain yield, and yield stability of wheat. Our results showed that the two N fertilizer types had the highest lodging rate under high N application rates, and the M-CRUNU treatment showed the lowest lodging rate. Compared with NU, CRUNU improved the wheat population lodging resistance under the three N application rates, mainly related to improving wheat population characteristics and breaking the strength of the second basal internode. Correlation analysis showed that the breaking strength of the second basal internode was related to the physical characteristics, chemical components, and micro-structure of the internode. Compared with NU, CRUNU significantly increased wheat grain yield by 4.47, 14.62, and 3.12% under low, medium, and high N application rates, respectively. In addition, CRUNU showed no significant difference in grain yield under medium and high N application rates, but it presented the highest yield stability under the medium N application rate. In summary, CRUNU, combined with the medium N application rate, is an efficient agronomic management strategy for wheat production.