A new urease-inhibiting formulation decreases ammonia volatilization and improves maize nitrogen utilization in North China Plain

Overuse of urea, low nitrogen (N) utilization, and large N losses are common in maize production in North China Plain (NCP). To solve these problems, we conducted two field experiments at Shangzhuang and Quzhou in NCP to test the ability of a newly developed urease inhibitor product Limus(®) to decrease NH(3) volatilization from urea applied to maize. Grain yield, apparent N recovery efficiency (RE(N)) and N balance when using urea applied with or without Limus were also measured over two maize growing seasons. Cumulative NH(3) loss in the two weeks following urea application without Limus ranged from 9–108 kg N ha(−1), while Limus addition significantly decreased NH(3) loss by a mean of 84%. Urea with Limus did not significantly increase maize yields (P < 0.05) compared with urea alone. However, a significant 11–17% improvement in RE(N) with Limus was observed at QZ. The use of urea-N plus Limus would permit a reduction in N applications of 55–60% compared to farmers’ practice and/or further 20% N saving compared with optimized urea-N rate (150 kg N ha(−1), based on N requirement by target yield of 7.5 t ha(−1)), and would achieve the same maize yields but with significantly decreased NH(3) loss and increased N utilization.