SUSTAINABLE NITROGEN MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIAN AGROECOSYSTEMS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

● There is huge potential for improvement of nitrogen management in Australia. ● N management should incorporate environmental, social and economic sustainability. ● Agronomic, ecological and socioeconomic approaches and efforts are needed. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient that supports life, but excess N in the human-environment system causes multiple adverse effects from the local to the global scale. Sustainable N management in agroecosystems, therefore, has become more and more critical to address the increasing concern over food security, environmental quality and climate change. Australia is facing a serious challenge for sustainable N management due to its emission-intensive lifestyle (high level of animal-source foods and fossil fuels consumption) and its diversity of agricultural production systems, from extensive rainfed grain systems with mining of soil N to intensive crop and animal production systems with excessive use of N. This paper reviews the major challenges and future opportunities for making Australian agrifood systems more sustainable, less polluting and more profitable.     

ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS IN AGROECOSYSTEMS: APPROACHES AND APPLICATIONS

● Agricultural intensification reduced the complexity and connectance of soil food webs. ● Agricultural intensification impaired the robustness of pollination networks. ● High connectance in co-occurrence networks indicates efficient nutrient utilization. Complex network theory has been increasingly used in various research areas, including agroecosystems. This paper summarizes the basic concepts and approaches commonly used in complex network theory, and then reviews recent studies on the applications in agroecosystems of three types of common ecological networks, i.e., food webs, pollination networks and microbial co-occurrence networks. In general, agricultural intensification is considered to be a key driver of the change of agroecosystems. It causes the simplification of landscape, leads to the loss of biocontrol through cascading effect in food webs, and also reduces the complexity and connectance of soil food webs. For pollination networks, agricultural intensification impaired the robustness by reducing specialization and enhancing generality. The microbial co-occurrence networks with high connectance and low modularity generally corresponded to high efficiency in utilization of nutrients, and high resistance to crop pathogens. This review aims to show the readers the advances of ecological networks in agroecosystems and inspire the researchers to conduct their studies in a new network perspective.     

NITROGEN USE AND MANAGEMENT IN ORCHARDS AND VEGETABLE FIELDS IN CHINA: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

China is the largest producer and consumer of fruits and vegetables in the world. Although the annual planting areas of orchards and vegetable fields(OVF) account for 20% of total croplands, they consume more than 30% of the mineral nitrogen fertilizers in China and have become hotspots of reactive N emissions. Excess N fertilization has not only reduced the N use efficiency(NUE) and quality of grown fruits and vegetables but has also led to soil acidification, biodiversity loss and climate chan...     

5种旱地土壤的供氮特点及其与土壤性质的关系

用盆载黑麦草和土壤间隔淋洗好气培养的方法，研究了湖北省５种主要旱地土壤的供氮特点。结果表明，供试土壤基础供氮量以江陵潮土和武汉黄棕壤最大，新洲潮土（酸性）和枣阳黄褐土次之，咸宁棕红壤最小。潮土和黄褐土前期供氮多而后期供氮少；棕红壤供氮最平稳，前后期都保证了一定的供氮量，但其供氮强度最弱、供氮数量最少；酸性潮土和黄棕壤处于上述２类土壤之间。土壤氮素矿化一级动力学模型可以较好地描述供土壤的供氮特征。土壤供氮快慢与土壤粘粒含量、有机碳／有机氮比率及有机质氧化稳定系数有关。     

油菜秸还田对土壤氮素供应和积累的影响

试验采用＾１５Ｎ－硫铵、＾１５Ｎ－油菜秸单施，两者交叉标记的配施处理，于水稻生长期间研究了总Ｎ及肥料＾１５Ｎ的吸收和稻株体内的分布，还讨论了土壤氮素总供应量的变化，土壤全氮及腐殖质各组分含氮量的增长，显然，有机肥与无机肥配施能在多方面产生良好效应。     

稻田轮耕土壤氮素矿化及土壤供氮量的研究

在稻田连续少耕3季的基础上，分区设定“2年4熟”一个轮耕周期的试验组合，对试验第3季的水稻进行较系统的测定。结果表明：①淹水密闭培养测定的矿化氮，连少耕土壤较高，连耕、轮耕土壤较低。②施氮处理植株含氮率轮耕前期较低，后期较高；土壤供氮量连耕较高，连少耕最低，与培养法测定的矿化氮结果相反。③轮耕有较高的氮肥利用效率，在生产上，与常规耕和连续少耕相比，轮耕可适当减少氮肥施用量。④轮耕后土壤容重和穿透阻力居于连少耕和连耕之间，但仍保持在水稻生长的适宜范围内；连少耕7～14cm土层紧实，影响水稻根系生长和对氮素的吸收。     

SOIL NITROGEN CYCLING AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS IN THE SUBTROPICAL HILLY REGION OF CHINA: EVIDENCE FROM MEASUREMENTS AND MODELING

The subtropical hilly region of China is a region with intensive crop and livestock production, which has resulted in serious N pollution in soil, water and air. This review summarizes the major soil N cycling processes and their influencing factors in rice paddies and uplands in the subtropical hilly region of China. The major N cycling processes include the N fertilizer application in croplands, atmospheric N deposition, biological N fixation, crop N uptake,ammonia volatilization, N₂     

评价土壤有效氮测定方法的生物指标

研究表明,作物吸收的氮素总量能客观地反映土壤的供氮能力,是评价化学浸取氮的唯一准则。作物含氮百分数只有在生育期长时才有较大变动,反映出土壤供氮水平的差别。对于生育期短,吸氮不多的作物,干物质与吸氮量有一致关系,可用来衡量浸取法的适合程度;而对于生育期长、吸氮多的作物,则有较大偏差。以两种方式表示的浸取氮与作物吸收氮间的相关系数基本一致。作物吸氮量与两种方式表示的全氮间的相关系数无显著区别;而以每盆毫克数表示的有机质与作物吸取的氮素有密切稳定的相关。     

淮北地区高产小麦植株吸氮及土壤供氮特性

1984–1986年在不同施氮水平下,研究了植株吸氮及土壤供氮特性,试验结果：亩产400–450公斤,植株每亩总吸氮量15公斤左右。各生育期植株含氮率为：出苗至分蘖期5%左右,拔节期3%左右,孕穗期2.5%,灌浆期1.8%左右。小麦一生应在分蘖至越冬始期和拔节孕穗期出现两个吸氮高峰,前者约占总吸氮量23%,后者占33.6%。吸氮强度：每日每亩吸氮量以拔节至孕穗期最大,依次为返青至拔节和分蘖至越冬始期;氮的相对积累速率则以分蘖至越冬始期最高,其次是拔节至孕穗期。土壤氮素供应量为18–20公斤/亩;土壤供氮与植株吸氮比值：分蘖期最高为11–12∶1,拔节后为1.6–1.8∶1,孕穗期为1.2∶1。土壤供氮与生育进程之间呈4次方程,据此可求得各生育期土壤供氮指标和补差施氮量。     

万州区土壤质量变化评价及其可持续利用对策

通过对数据的无量纲处理确定土壤质量的单指标指数,用已修正后的内罗梅公式计算综合质量,对重庆市万州区1982年和2005年土壤质量单指标指数和综合质量进行了全面的分析评价,得出土壤质量的演变特征：一方面土壤中有机质含量增加。土壤综合质量提高,土壤质量为“低”等级的耕地所占比例减少,土壤质量为“良好”、“中等”等级的耕地所占比例增加,旱地转变为菜地、园地或撂荒地,土壤质量也相应提高;另一方面是土壤酸化、土壤中养分不均衡,土壤质量为”优”等级的耕地比例减少。在此基础上分析了变化的原因。并提出实现土壤资源可持续利用的对策。     

含氮纤维素的制备及其对铬离子和铜离子的去除试验

探讨了以稻壳为骨架材料制备含氮纤维的方法及其对重金属离子Ｃｒ（Ⅵ）和Ｃｕ￣（２＋）的去除条件、吸附容量及再生情况．结果表明：制备的这种含氮纤维素对Ｃｒ（Ⅵ），Ｃｕ￣（２＋）等高子有很好的吸附能力．当ｐＨ＝２．５时，对Ｃｒ（Ⅵ）的动态饱和吸附容量为３４．２１７ｍｇ／ｇ（干基）；ｐＨ＝６时，对Ｃｕ￣（２＋）的吸附容量为１０．６１１ｍｇ／ｇ（干基）．分别用１０％的氢氧化钠和５％的氨水溶液洗脱可以再生，它是一种较为新型、高效、价廉的重金属离子吸附剂．