Response of Maize Yield and Water Productivity to Different Long-Term Fertilization Strategies in Semi-arid Regions in Northern China

作者：Zhiping Liu, Ziyuan Guo, Zongyi Wang, Wenyan Xie, Zhenxing Yang, Liyan He, Deli Chen, Xueping Wu, Huaiping Zhou · 发表于：Agriculture · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/agriculture15222396 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Crop Yield and Soil Fertility、Climate change impacts on agriculture、Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

The scarcity and uneven distribution of precipitation present significant challenges for agriculture in arid regions. Fertilization can improve crop yields and water productivity (WP) under these conditions. However, the effects of different long-term fertilization practices on maize yield and WP under varying precipitation patterns require further research. A 30-year fertilization experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different fertilization treatments on maize yield, WP, soil organic carbon (SOC), and the correlations among these factors. The treatments included no fertilization, application of chemical fertilizers alone, combined application of chemical fertilizers and cattle manure, and application of a high amount of cattle manure alone. Chemical fertilizers, cattle manure, and the combined application of chemical fertilizers and cattle manure significantly increased maize yield by 61.81–86.14%, 121.0%, and 114.5–125.5%, and increased WP by 59.4–84.9%, 119.4%, and 111.9–126.5%, respectively, compared to the unfertilized control. The combined application of chemical fertilizers and cattle manure resulted in optimal maize yield and WP, while also substantially reducing the coefficient of variation in maize yield (by 19.9–25.9% compared to the control) under interannual precipitation fluctuations. Compared with the no fertilization treatment, the average increase in maize yield peaks in very wet years, while WP reaches its highest level in relatively dry ye...