Nitrogen fertilization strategies for improved Mediterranean rainfed wheat and barley performance and water and nitrogen use efficiency

摘要

Adequate fertilization strategies are paramount to fulfill increasing demands for food, feed and fiber while reducing environmental impacts. However, their optimization under Mediterranean no-till systems has received little attention. The objective of this work was to assess winter cereal yield and water and N use efficiencies in a rainfed semiarid Mediterranean climate under (i) a range of pre-plant fertilizers [control without N fertilizer (0 N), and the following at 75 kg N ha(-1): mineral N (MIN), swine slurry (SS), poultry manure (PM), and compost (COM)], (ii) fertilizer incorporation: no-tillage without incorporating (NT) or incorporation with a vibrocultivator (INC) and (iii) application of urea-ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) as top-dress as a control without UAN (UAN-) or 50 kg N ha(-1) (UAN+). The experiment covered six cropping seasons (2012-2019).