Plastic-film mulch and fertilization rate affect the fate of urea- 15 N in maize production

We investigated the effects of interaction between plastic-film mulch and nitrogen (N) fertilization rate on the fate of fertilizer N in a ridge–furrow maize (Zea mays L.) cropping system. Three N levels (0, 138 and 207 kg ha−1, abbreviated as N0, N1 and N2) were combined with plastic-film-mulching and no-mulching, successively in 2015 and 2016, at a cold semiarid site. Within each treated plot, a micro-plot was established to trace the fate of urea-N (only 15N-labeled in 2015). Averaging 2 years, increasing fertilization from N1 to N2 increased maize grain yield and total N uptake only in mulched soils. Mulch increased both maize grain yield and total N uptake more at N2 than at N1. In 2015, mulch increased the in-season fertilizer N uptake in maize by 53% at N1 but by 75% at N2; increasing N application from N1 to N2 enhanced the fertilizer N acquisition by 26% in non-mulched but by 45% in mulched plots. In 2016, similar effects of interaction existed between mulch and fertilization rate on the residual fertilizer N uptake by maize. Mulch enhanced fertilizer N availability in the topsoil relative to no mulch, responsible for the increased maize fertilizer N uptake in mulched treatments. Decreased in-season fertilizer N loss and transformation of urea N to the organic N in mulched soils were contributors to the increased fertilizer N availability, compared to non-mulched soils. We concluded that the effects of fertilization on maize total N uptake and fertilizer N recovery benefited from plastic-film mulch.