Chin J Plan Ecolo ›› 2015, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (3): 249-257.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2015.0024

Special Issue: 碳水能量通量

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of different levels of nitrogen fertilization on soil respiration during growing season in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum)

JIN Wan-Yu, LI Ming, HE Yang-Hui, DU Zheng-Gang, SHAO Jun-Jiong, ZHANG Guo-Dong, ZHOU Ling-Yan, ZHOU Xu-Hui*()   

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • Received:2014-10-11 Accepted:2015-01-28 Online:2015-03-01 Published:2015-03-17
  • Contact: Xu-Hui ZHOU
  • About author:

    # Co-first authors

Abstract: <i>Aims</i>

Our objective was to explore the effects of different levels of nitrogen (N) fertilization on soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity during growing season in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) in East China.

<i>Methods</i>

Three levels of N fertilization, N1 (15 g·m-2·a-1), N2 (30 g·m-2·a-1), and N3 (45 g·m-2·a-1), and the control group (CK) were set up in winter wheat fields. The LI-8100 Automated Soil CO2 Flux System was used to measure soil respiration rate during the growing season (December 2013 to May 2014) of winter wheat.

<i>Important findings</i>

During the growing season of winter wheat, mean soil respiration rates of N1, N2 and N3 treatments were 5.29, 6.17 and 6.75 μmol·m-2·s-1, respectively, which were 7.8%, 23.6% and 37.8% greater than that of the CK (4.90 μmol·m-2·s-1). Compared to CK, the N1, N2, and N3 treatments increased the aboveground biomass by 39.9%, 104.4%, and 200.2%, respectively, and the increases were significantly correlated with total soil respiration during the growing season. Soil respiration increased exponentially with soil temperature at the depth of 5 cm, which explained 65%-75% of the variation (p < 0.05). The temperature sensitivity of soil respiration (Q10) calculated based an exponential equation was between 2.09 and 2.32. These results suggested that nitrogen fertilization promoted plant growth, significantly increased biomass of winter wheat, and stimulated the soil respiration.

Key words: N fertilization levels, Triticum aestivum, soil respiration