Nitrogen loss from farmland has caused serious problems all over the world. This field study assessed Nitrogen Use Efficiency1 (NUE) and biomass yield under four different field treatments in the Hubei Province, in central China. Results show that 1) in these four treatments, the maize monoculture plots have the highest rate of fertilizer N losses (69.12%), and the lowest (32.45%) is treated by surface rice straw mulch of maize intercrop with peanut;2) compared with monoculture, polyculture plots have 36.9 kg·ha–1 and 26.57 kg·ha–1 more nitrogen absorption in the mulched and un-mulched plots respectively, however, polyculture has a lesser effect on NUE;3) surface straw mulch is an effective way to keep nitrogen in the soil (0 - 100 cm), however it may decrease dry matter yield in monoculture plots;4) maize intercrop with peanut and surface mulch can keep 47.63% of the fertilizer N in the soil profiles (0 - 100 cm), which is the highest among these four treatments.
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