Author(s)

Suping Wang, Xiaokun Li, Jianwei Lu, Juan Hong, Gang Chen, Xinxin Xue, Jifu Li, Yunxia Wei, Jialong Zou, Guangwen Liu

College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China; Wuhan Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China; Wuhan Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Soil and Fertilizer Station of Jingzhou City, Jingzhou, China.
Soil and Fertilizer Station of Wuxue City, Wuxue, China.
Wuhan Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.

Field experiments were conducted to study the effects of the controlled release urea (CRU) application on growth yield and nitrogen recovery efficiency of cotton in the main cotton zone of the Yangtze River basin in 2010. Different nitrogen levels were set in order to determine the suitable dosage of CRU on cotton. The special purpose was to provide evidence for the CRU application in cotton fields. The results show that the application of CRU promotes the growth of cotton significantly and enhances the nitrogen supply in the whole period. Compared to the treatment with total N as base fertilizer (UB), the bod, flower, little bolls and total bolls are increased significantly. There are no significant differences in the yield between the CRU treatment and the treatment of controlled release urea and urea combined application (60%CRU + 40%U), but an increase by 12.38%-22.67% compared to the UB treatment, and an increase by 4.49%-7.23% compared to the treatments of total N split application (UD). The nitrogen uptake of CRU treatment was significantly increased by 13.01%-48.32% and 30.27%-13.01% than UB treatment and UD treatment, respectively. The nutrient recovery efficiency of CRU treatment is increased by 16.42-20.59, 5.92-11.29 and 4.22-12.59 percentage points compared to the UB treatment, UD treatment and 60%CRU + 40%U treatment, respectively. In this study, there was a good linearity relationship between the cotton yield and amount of CRU in Wuxue site. The yield of cotton response to amount of CRU could be described by the model of linear plus plateau in Jingzhou site.

Controlled Release Urea; Cotton; Yield; Nitrogen Recovery Efficiency

Wang, S. , Li, X. , Lu, J. , Hong, J. , Chen, G. , Xue, X. , Li, J. , Wei, Y. , Zou, J. and Liu, G. (2013) Effects of controlled-release urea application on the growth, yield and nitrogen recovery efficiency of cotton. Agricultural Sciences, 4, 33-38. doi: 10.4236/as.2013.412A003.