Growth and distribution of maize roots under nitrogen fertilization in plinthite soil |
| |
| Institution: | 1. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, PMB 5320, Oyo Road, Ibadan, Nigeria;2. Institute for Plant Nutrition, University of Hannover, Hannover, Germany;3. Institute for Agricultural Research/Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria;1. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Beijing 100081, China;2. Key Laboratory of Energy Conservation and Waste Management of Agricultural Structures, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China;3. Horticulture and Product Physiology, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, PO Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands;1. Departamento de Botânica-IB-USP, Rua do Matão, 277, 05508-090, São Paulo, SP, Brazil;2. Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (IB-INTA), B1712WAA Castelar, Argentina;3. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1712WAA Castelar, Argentina;4. Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina;1. Computational Science Center, University of Vienna, Austria;2. Earth and Life Institute, Environmental Sciences, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium;3. Division of Agronomy, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria;4. Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Agrosphere (IBG-3), Jülich,Germany;1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China;2. Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China;3. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding, Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, College of Agriculture, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China;4. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225000, China;5. Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety, The Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China |
| |
| Abstract: | To improve efficiency of soil N and water use in the savanna, maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars with improved root systems are required. Two rainfed field experiments were conducted in Samaru, Nigeria in the 1993 and 1994 growing seasons with five maize cultivars under various rates of nitrogen fertilizer. The capacity of maize for rapid early root growth and to later develop a deep, dense root system was assessed. In addition, the effect of N fertilization on root growth of maize was studied in 1994. The widely cultivated cultivar TZB-SR had a poor root system in the surface soil layer and was more susceptible to early-season drought, as indicated by low plant vigor and aboveground dry matter yield during that time. It had a lower grain yield and a relatively small harvest index, but ranked among the highest in total aboveground dry matter production compared to other cultivars. The size of root system alone did not always relate well with grain yield among cultivars. Partitioning of dry matter within the plant was important in determining differences in grain yield and N stress tolerance between cultivars. A semiprolific cultivar (SPL) had high seedling vigour and a dense root system in the surface soil layer that conferred a greater tolerance to early-season drought stress and improved uptake of the early-season N flush, as indicated by a greater dry matter yield at 35 days after sowing (DAS). It also had a fine, deep, dense root system at flowering that could have improved water- and N-use efficiency in the subsoil (> 45 cm), thereby avoiding midseason drought stress in 1994. SPL had a large harvest index and the greatest yield among cultivars in 1994. Averaged across cultivars, greater root growth and distribution was observed at a moderate N rate of 0.56 g plant?1 than at zero-N or high N (2.26 g plant?1). Differences in root morphology could be valuable as selection criteria for N-efficient and drought-tolerant maize. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
