Nitrogen fertilizer reduction in combination with Azolla cover for reducing ammonia volatilization and improving nitrogen use efficiency of rice

BACKGROUND: Excessive nitrogen (N) application rate with low N use efficiency (NUE) caused a considerable amount of N losses, especially ammonia volatilization (AV). Proper N fertilizer reduction (RN) could significantly reduce AV. However, continuous RN led to a nutrient deficiency in the soil and therefore negatively impacted the NUE and rice yield. Paddy Azolla, a good green manure, is considered as a promising measure to decrease AV and improve NUE and grain yield of rice. However, there is limited information on the integrated effects of RN and Azolla cover on the AV, NUE, and rice yield, especially in the highly fertilized rice-growing systems. METHODS: The experiment was conducted including eight treatments: the control (without N fertilizer and Azolla cover), Azolla cover without N fertilizer (A), farmer’s N application rate (FN), FN + Azolla cover (FNA), 15% RN from FN (RN(15)), RN(15) + Azolla cover (RN(15)A). 30% RN from FN (RN(30)), RN(30) + Azolla cover (RN(30)A). The integrated effects of N fertilizer reduction and Azolla cover on AV, NUE, and rice grain was evaluated. RESULTS: RN(15)A and RN(30)A substantially reduced total AV by 50.3 and 66.9% compared with FN, respectively, primarily due to the lower surface water ammonia concentrations and pH. RN improved the efficiency of Azolla cover on reducing AV, with 4.1–9.9% higher than for FN. Compared with the FN, RN(15)A and RN(30)A enhanced apparent N recovery efficiency (ANRE) by 46.5 and 39.1%, which might be responsible for the lower NH(3) emission and the increased total N uptake / total chemical N applied. Furthermore, RN(15)A and RN(30)A reduced yield-scaled volatilization by 52.3 and 64.3% than for FN, respectively. Thus, combining 15–30% RN with Azolla cover may be a way to reduce AV and improve ANRE without decreasing rice grain yield.