Effect of Deep Nitrogen Fertilizer Application on Grain Protein Content and Quality of Bread Wheat

ABSTRACT

In dry agricultural areas, plant uptake of nitrogen (N) stored in topsoil is limited as soil excessively dries up, especially in the late period of wheat growth. Deep N application is often suggested to ensure effectively use of water stored in the subsoil. This experiment was carried out in two different fields with different soils at Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute (TZARI) between 2012–2015 in the fallow-wheat rotation system. Efficiency of six different applications (1- deep Autumn 40 kg N ha⁻¹(A40), 2- deep Autumn 20 kg N ha⁻¹ (A20), 3-deep Spring 40 kg N ha⁻¹(S40), 4- deep Spring 20 kg N ha⁻¹(S20), 5- Traditional (T), 6- Control (C)) was investigated in Mufitbey and Bezostaja1 cultivars. The highest grain yield (4861 kg ha⁻¹) was obtained in deep application of 20 kg N ha⁻¹ in autumn, and the lowest grain yield (3969 kg ha⁻¹) was obtained in control. Also, the highest protein content of 12.65% was obtained with deep N applications of 20 kg N ha⁻¹ in autumn, while the lowest GPC (11.37%) was found in the control. Significant and high correlations occurred between nitrate content at 60 cm soil depth in the grain filling period and spike N uptake (r = 0.85, P < .001), GPC (r = 0.84 P < .001), farinograph number (r = 0.85, P < .05), development time (r = 0.83 P < .05) and yield (r = 0.96, P < .001). Significant occurred between Bezostaja1 and Müfitbey in rheological (dough) properties. The data showed that climate and soil conditions should be taken into account in deep N application in dryland wheat farming.

KEYWORDS:

• Deep nitrogen application
• nitrate content
• protein
• wheat

Abbreviations

GY	=	Grain Yied
GPC	=	Grain Protein Content
MSDS	=	Macro Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Sedimentation Volume
TKW	=	One Thousand Kernel Weight
TZARI	=	Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute
BW	=	plant biomass weight
TKW	=	thousand kernels weight
SN	=	spike number per meter square
GN	=	grain number per meter square
GNspike	=	grain number per spike
HI	=	harvest index
(1)	=	Autumn 40 kg N ha−1(A40)
(2)	=	Autumn 20 kg N ha−1(A20)
(3)	=	Spring 40 kg N ha−1(S40)
(4)	=	Spring 20 kg N ha−1 (S20)
(5)	=	Traditional (T)
(6)	=	Control (C)*ZD71: Zadoks 71 (milk stage grain filling period
p < .05	=	**, p < .01; n.s., not significant

Acknowledgements

This study was prepared from the results of the research conducted within the scope of the TAGEM/TBAD/13/A12/P01/007 project, which supported by the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Republic of Turkey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

The authors declare no conflict of interest. Erdinç Savaşlı, Oğuz Önder, Yaşar Karaduman, Didem Özen, Ramis Dayıoğlu, Suat Özdemir, Arzu Akın, Özgür Ateş, Mümtaz Ekiz, Sabit Erşahin. Erdinç Savaşlı: Methodology, Data Curation, Validation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Conceptualization, writing – original draft, Writing – review. Sabit Erşahin: Conceptualization, Validation, Formal analysis, orjinal Writing – review & editing. Oğuz Önder: Data Curation, Validation, methodology, original Writing – review, Resources, Investigation. Yaşar karaduman: Conceptualization, original draft, Writing – review. Didem Özen: Resources, Investigation. Ramis Dayıoğlu: Resources, Investigation. Suat Özdemir: Resources, Investigation. Arzu Akın: Conceptualization, Investigation, Resources. Özgür Ateş: Resources, Investigation. Mümtaz ekiz: Resources, Investigation Project administration, Resources, All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00103624.2023.2223639

Notes

1. Trade or manufacturers’ names mentioned in the paper are for information only and do not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or exclusion by the ETZARI.