Yield components in relation to grain yield losses of barley fertilized with nitrogen

• Published in: European journal of agronomy 1995, Vol.4 (1), p.55-63
• Main Author: Papastylianou, I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ABONOS NITROGENADOS; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; APLICACION DE ABONOS; APPLICATION RATES; barley; Biological and medical sciences; CARACTERES DE RENDIMIENTO; CEREAL CROPS; COMPOSANTE DE RENDEMENT; CROP LOSSES; CROP YIELD; CULTIVOS DE CEREALES; DOSE D'APPLICATION; DOSIS DE APLICACION; ENGRAIS AZOTE; FERTILISATION; FERTILIZER APPLICATION; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; GRAIN; GRANOS; HORDEUM VULGARE; MEDITERRANEAN ZONE; Nitrogen fertilization; nitrogen fertilizer; NITROGEN FERTILIZERS; Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium fertilizations; PERDIDAS DE LA COSECHA; PERTE DE RECOLTE; PLANTE CEREALIERE; RENDEMENT DES CULTURES; RENDIMIENTO DE CULTIVOS; ROTACION DE CULTIVOS; ROTATION CULTURALE; ROTATIONAL CROPPING; rotations; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments; YIELD COMPONENTS; ZONA MEDITERRANEA; ZONE MEDITERRANEENNE
• ISSN: 1161-0301; 1873-7331
• DOI: 10.1016/S1161-0301(14)80017-8

Application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer above the optimum rate suppresses grain yield of cereals in environments in which water supply is limited towards the end of the growing season. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of N fertilizer application on yield components of barley. The two-rowed barley locally named Kantara was grown for eight growing seasons in different long-term rotational experiments at two locations under rainfed conditions (200 to 450 mm) in Cyprus. Four rates of ammonium sulphate (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg N ha−l) were applied at sowing. Nitrogen application linearly increased the number of spikes per unit area and linearly decreased the weight per grain. The number of grains per spike and grain yield per unit area showed a quadratic response to nitrogen application, in which an initial increase was followed by a reduction at higher rates of N application. Stepwise regression analysis showed that the importance of variation in each yield component for explaining variation in grain yield varied with season, with the weight per grain being usually the least important, though always being statistically significant. Most of the variation in grain yield was explained by the number of grains per spike and by the number of tillers M−2. Strategies for managing N fertilizer application for specific environment and rotation systems for avoiding yield loss are suggested.