The influence of nitrogen fertilization on crop production and ecohydrology in an endorheic river basin

Yang，Shuai1,2; Chen，Kewei2; Zhu，Bowen4; Zhang，Wang5; Yin，Maosheng2,7; Du，Erhu6; Zheng，Chunmiao2,3,7

2023-10-01

10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130035

Journal of Hydrology   Impact Factor & Quartile

0022-1694

1879-2707

Nitrogen fertilization is extensively applied in agricultural activities to boost food production, which changes the local hydrologic and carbon cycles. Quantitative evaluation of nitrogen fertilization on carbon and hydrologic dynamics remains challenging due to the complex linkage between hydrologic and biogeochemical processes during irrigation. To address the challenge, we utilized the Community Land Model 5 (CLM5) with activated crop module (CLM5-Crop) to investigate the response of crop yield, gross primary production (GPP), evapotranspiration (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE) to nitrogen fertilization in the cropland area of the Heihe River Basin (HRB) in northwestern China. Two batches of numerical experiments (irrigation and non-irrigation) with different nitrogen fertilization rates (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 gN m, respectively) during 2000–2012 were designed to gain insights into the feedback of agricultural production and ecohydrological response to fertilization. As a result, the crop yield is significantly promoted by ∼ 120% with the nitrogen fertilization rate increasing from 0 to 20 gN m under irrigation conditions. Unlike the crop yield, a clear peak of GPP is observed at the nitrogen fertilization rate of 5 gN m under irrigation conditions, while higher nitrogen fertilization rates have no further promotion on GPP. ET shows a weak response to the nitrogen fertilization but a good correlation with irrigation. Different crops show different patterns of WUE under different nitrogen fertilization rates. Overall, our study demonstrates that the different influence of nitrogen fertilization on crop yield and hydrologic dynamics in a large endorheic river basin and such a finding should be taken into consideration in the future agricultural activities for the balance between food production and carbon neutrality.

Crop yield Gross primary production Heihe River Basin Water use efficiency

SCI

English

Corresponding

National Natural Science Foundation of China["41861124003","42207062"] ; Guangdong Provincial Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund[2021A1515110781]

Engineering ; Geology ; Water Resources

Engineering, Civil ; Geosciences, Multidisciplinary ; Water Resources

WOS:001079105500001

ELSEVIER

ENGINEERING

2-s2.0-85169809451

Scopus

1.Institute of Water Sciences,College of Engineering,Peking University,Beijing,China
2.State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control,School of Environmental Science and Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China
3.Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control,School of Environmental Science and Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China
4.College of Water Science and Engineering,Taiyuan University of Technology,Taiyuan,China
5.School of Water Resources and Environment,China University of Geosciences,Beijing,China
6.Yangtze Institute for Conservation and Development,Hohai University,Nanjing,China
7.Eastern Institute for Advanced Study,Eastern Institute of Technology,Ningbo,China

Yang，Shuai,Chen，Kewei,Zhu，Bowen,et al. The influence of nitrogen fertilization on crop production and ecohydrology in an endorheic river basin[J]. Journal of Hydrology,2023,625.

Yang，Shuai.,Chen，Kewei.,Zhu，Bowen.,Zhang，Wang.,Yin，Maosheng.,...&Zheng，Chunmiao.(2023).The influence of nitrogen fertilization on crop production and ecohydrology in an endorheic river basin.Journal of Hydrology,625.

Yang，Shuai,et al."The influence of nitrogen fertilization on crop production and ecohydrology in an endorheic river basin".Journal of Hydrology 625(2023).