Source–Sink Balance Optimization Depends on Soil Nitrogen Condition So as to Increase Rice Yield and N Use Efficiency

Genetic improvement has been devoted to increasing rice yield by increasing the spikelet number per panicle and the spikelet/leaf ratio. As a result, indica-japonica hybrid rice “Yongyou” varieties with large panicles and superhigh yield potential have been developed. These varieties exhibit significantly higher grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency for grain (NUEg) under moderate and high N supply conditions due to their large sink size, but their yield performance remains obscure under low N input and low soil fertility conditions. In the present study, we investigated four varieties including Yongyou2640 (YY2640, large-panicle india-japonica hybrid variety), Yangliangyou6 (YLY6, two-line indica hybrid variety), Quanyou6 (QY6, three-line indica hybrid variety), and Huanghuazhan (HHZ, indica inbred variety) under two low soil fertility treatments [LF (removing half of soil depth) and CK] and two N fertilizer rates (0 and 100 kg N ha⁻¹) in Central China. The results showed that the grain yield of YY2640 was more responsive to fertility than that of other varieties, which was 19.4–42.3% higher than that of the other three varieties under CK N100 treatment, but it was 14.5–19.4% lower than that of YLY6 and QY6 under LF N0 and LF N100. A higher spikelet/leaf ratio resulted in more biomass and N partition to panicles rather than to leaves under LF N0 and N100. Slightly more post-flowering dry matter obtained from higher leaf N content and crop growth rate failed to compensate for the adverse effects of reduced pre-flowering dry matter accumulation and stem-to-grain translocation during grain filling. This led to the lower NUEg of YY2640 than YLY6 and QY6 under low soil fertility conditions. Based on these findings, the present study suggested that the source–sink relationship of the super hybrid varieties should be optimized according to the soil N supply condition.