Effects Of Silicon Regulation On Yield,Nitrogen Utilization Efficiency And Lodging Resistance Of Spring Maize

The effects of silicon pattern and nitrogen application rate on spring maize yield,nitrogen use efficiency and lodging resistance were studied toimprove the cultivation technique of high yield and high efficiency of spring maize in northeast ChinaSplit plot experiment design was adopted under the planting density of 7.5×10~4 plants/hm~2 with hybrid maize cultivar of Xianyu335(XY335).The main area was four silicon fertilization patterns,including Orly silicon base fertilizer(granular silicon,Si-Pa.),Energia-M impregnated seed(silicon impregnated seed,Si-So.),Energia-M foliar spraying(silicon spraying,Si-Sp.)and no silicon(control,CK).The split zone was nitrogen application rate of 0(N0),120(N120),180(N180)and 240(N240)kg-N/hm~2.Three repetitions were performed per treatment.The main results were as follows:(1)Silicon addition and the interaction of silicon and nitrogen significantly increased the yield(P<0.01),nitrogen application rate had little significant effect.The treatment of Si-Pa.combined N180 had the highest yield.Among them,only the silicon application mode is considered as Si-Pa.>Si-So.>Si-Sp.>CK;only the nitrogen application rate is considered as N180>N240>N120.Meanwhile,the yield N120,N180 and N240 with silicon applied increased 10%than that of CK.So,application of silicon fertilizer can significantly increase the yield of spring maize,especially at low and high nitrogen levels respectively.Applied silicon fertilizer can improve the ear characteristics of spring maize.(2)Silicon additions ignificantly increased the plant height,stem diameter,leaf area index(LAI),net photosynthetic rate(Pn),light use efficiency(LUE),leaf area duration(LAD)and chlorophyll contents of spring maize(P<0.01).Si-Pa.combined N180 had the highest LUE at 3.62%.Spring maize yield was positively correlated with plant height,stem diameter,LUE and chlorophyll content.(3)Silicon pattern,nitrogen application rateand the interaction ofsilicon and nitrogen can affect the accumulation,distribution and transportation of dry matterof spring maize.Silicon patterns and interaction of silicon and nitrogen significantly affected the agronomic efficiency of applied N(AE_N).Meanwhile,nitrogen application rateand interaction of silicon and nitrogen significantly affected the partial factor productivity from applied N(PFP_N).At the same silicon pattern,the PFP_N gradually decreased with the increasing of nitrogen rate.Nitrogen harvest index(NHI)was significantly affected by interaction of silicon and nitrogen,while not by silicon pattern and nitrogen application rate.Nitrogen transport efficiency(NTE)was not significantly affected by all treatments.Silicon patterns had significantly impact on the nitrogen contribution proportion(NCP),but the nitrogen application did not.(4)Silicon pattern significantly reduced the lodging rate of maize by more than10%,as Si-So.(5.67%)<Si-Pa.(6.23%)<Si-Sp.(7.01%)<CK(23.00%).Lodging resistance of spring maize was significantly affected by silicon pattern and nitrogen application rate,and which was significant negative correlation with the lodging rate(P<0.01).Silicon addition significantly increased the mechanical strength,lignin,cellulose,hemicellulose content and silicon content of springmaize,and significantly reduced the length of thirdinternode.