Evaluation of Nutrient Expert system in improving nutrient use efficiency and environmental benefits for winter wheat in the Hebei Plain

Abstract

This research evaluates the nutrient management system of Nutrient Expert (NE) in winter wheat grain yield production and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in the Hebei Plain. Field experiments were conducted to check the yield effects, nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and GHG under NE (nutrient management based on Nutrient Expert recommendation) and FP (nutrient management based on farmers' practices). The results showed that NE significantly reduced N fertilizer input while maintain higher yield and nutrient use efficiency than FP. The total N2O emission and GHG emissions for NE were about 0.69 kg N ha-1 and 1686 kg CO2 eq ha-1 respectively, significantly lower than for FP (p < 0.05), which was about 1.85 kg N ha-1 and 3329 kg CO2 eq ha-1, respectively. The NE system showed great potential to be easily used in smallholder farmers in the Hebei Plain.