Comparison of early season crop types for wheat production and nitrogen use efficiency in the Jianghan Plain in China

The rice-wheat (RW) cropping system is one of the most prevalent double-cropping systems used to farm the Jianghan Plain in China. However, it can lead to low wheat yields and reduced nitrogen use efficiency compared with dryland wheat (DW). We evaluated wheat yield and nitrogen use efficiency for two rotations (summer rice-winter wheat and summer soybean-winter wheat) from 2017 to 2019 and applied the results to improve nitrogen management for planting wheat after rice in the Jianghan Plain. Field experiments were conducted over two years with two nitrogen treatments: traditional nitrogen management (M1: 90 kg N ha(−1) was applied at sowing and jointing, respectively ) and optimized nitrogen management (M2: 60 kg N ha(−1) was applied at sowing, wintering and jointing, respectively). The highest total wheat production was achieved under M2 for both cropping systems and the two-year average yield was 6,128 kg ha(−1) in DW and 6,166 kg ha(−1) in RW. The spike number in DW was 15% higher than RW in M1 and 13% higher in M2, but the kernel per spike and 1,000-grain weight was lower than RW. The nitrogen accumulation of DW was 24% higher than RW in M1 and 33% in M2. Compared with RW, DW had higher NO(3)(−) content in the soil surface layer (0–20 cm) and a higher root length density (RLD) in the deeper layer (40–60 cm), which may account for the higher N uptake in DW. Our results show that the grain yield of RW was comparable to that of DW by optimum nitrogen management. The rice-wheat cropping system combined with optimum nitrogen management may be of economic and agronomic benefit to the wheatbelt in the Jianghan Plain in China.