A Modified Critical Nitrogen Dilution Curve for Winter Wheat to Diagnose Nitrogen Status Under Different Nitrogen and Irrigation Rates

The accuracy of nitrogen (N) diagnosis is essential to improve N use efficiency. The standard critical N concentration (standard Nc) dilution curves, an expression of the dynamics of N uptake and dry matter accumulation in plants, are widely used to diagnose the N status of crops. Several standard Nc dilution curves were proposed and validated for several crops, based on experiments involving different N fertilizer treatments. However, standard Nc dilution curves are affected by crop water status, e.g., resulting from differences in irrigation management. This paper aimed at developing a N diagnostic model under the coupling effect of irrigation and fertilizer managements. For this purpose, Nc dilution curves were developed under different irrigation rates. Additionally, plant water content (PWC), leaf water content (LWC), leaf area index (LAI), equivalent water thickness (EWT), and leaf area duration (LAD) were introduced into the model, to construct a modified Nc (mNc) dilution curve. The mNc dilution curves were designed using the principle of hierarchical linear model (HLM), introducing aboveground dry biomass (AGB) as the first layer of information, whereas the second layer of information included the different agronomic variables (PWC, LWC, LAI, EWT, and LAD). The results showed that parameters “a” and “b” of the standard Nc dilution curves ranged from 5.17 to 6.52 and −0.69 to −0.38 respectively. Parameter “a” was easily affected by different management conditions. The performance of standard Nc dilution models obtained by the cross-validation method was worse than that of mNc dilution models. The Nc dilution curve based on 4 years of data was described by the negative power equation Nc = 5.05 × AGB–0.47, with R2 and nRMSE of 0.63 and 0.21, respectively. The mNc dilution curve considers different treatments and was represented by the equation mNc = a×AGB−b, where a = 2.09 × PWC + 3.24, b = −0.02 × LAI + 0.51, with R2 and nRMSE of 0.79 and 0.13, respectively. For winter wheat, C3 crop, there would be a few problems in using standard Nc dilution methods to guide field management, however, this study provides a reliable method for constructing mNc dilution curves under different water and N fertilizer management. Due to the significant differences in hereditary, CO2 fixation efficiency and N metabolism pathways for C3 and C4 crops, the construction of mNc dilution curve suitable for different N response mechanisms will be conducive to the sustainable N management in crop plants.