Characteristics and Driving Factors of Nitrogen-Use Efficiency in Chinese Greenhouse Tomato Cultivation

Tianjing Ren, Yu’e Li, Tiantian Miao, Waseem Hassan, Jiaqi Zhang, Yunfan Wan and Andong Cai
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Tianjing Ren: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Yu’e Li: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Tiantian Miao: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Waseem Hassan: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Jiaqi Zhang: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Yunfan Wan: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Andong Cai: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: Excessive nitrogen fertilizer application in greenhouses could cause a significant variation in the nitrogen-use efficiency at the regional scale. This study aims to quantify agronomic nitrogen-use efficiency (AE N ) and identify its driving factors across Chinese greenhouse tomato cultivation. Three hundred and forty-eight AE N values were obtained from 64 papers, including mineral nitrogen (MN) and mineral combined with organic nitrogen (MON) treatments. The average AE N values for the MN and MON treatments were 56.6 ± 7.0 kg kg −1 and 34.6 ± 3.5 kg kg −1 , respectively. The AE N of the MN treatment was higher than that of the MON treatment for cultivation using soil with an organic matter content of less than 10 g kg −1 and the drip fertigation method. The AE Ns of the MN and MON treatments were divided into two segments according to the nitrogen application rate. The inflection points of the nitrogen application rate were 290 and 1100 kg N ha −1 for the MN and MON treatments, respectively. When the ratio of organic nitrogen to total nitrogen was less than 0.4, it was beneficial for improving the AE N . The soil organic matter content and the nitrogen application rate were the most critical factors determining the AE N . These results suggest that rationally reducing the nitrogen input and partially substituting mineral nitrogen with organic nitrogen can help improve the nitrogen-use efficiency.

Keywords: greenhouse tomato; management practices; soil properties; agronomic nitrogen-use efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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