Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer Reduction Combined with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Yield Traits and Nitrogen Metabolism of Summer Maize
Using no nitrogen fertilizer(N0)as the control group,the field experiments with conventional nitrogen fertilizer(N100),two treatments of nitrogen reduction(reducing 20%and 40%),and two treatments of arbuscular mycor-rhizal(AM)fungi were conducted to investigate the combined effects of nitrogen reduction and AM fungi treatments on the invasion and development of AM fungi,maize yield traits,nitrogen metabolism-related enzyme activity,and nitrogen fertilizer absorption and utilization efficiency.The results showed that,the 20%nitrogen reduction treat-ment can promote the infection and development of AM fungi,while 40%nitrogen reduction treatment was the next.Compared to the N0 treatment,the kernel yield,ear rows and grain number per row increased under both the 20%ni-trogen reduction treatment and the 20%nitrogen reduction+AM fungi treatment.The maize nitrogen agronomic effi-ciency(NAE)and the nitrogen recovery efficiency(NRE)were the highest under the 20%nitrogen reduction+AM fun-gi treatment.The nitrate reductase(NR),nitrite reductase(NiR),glutamine synthetase(GS),and glutamate synthase(GOGAT)in maize roots possessed a higher activity under the 20%nitrogen reduction+AM fungi treatment when comparing to the N0 treatment.The activity of NR,NiR,GS,GOGAT increased by 140.4%-147.4%,96.1%-117.9%,131.5%-183.1%,and 122.8%-128.9%,respectively.Meanwhile,both the 20%nitrogen reduction treat-ment and the 20%nitrogen reduction+AM fungi treatment significantly enhanced nitrogen absorption in the above-ground and underground parts of maize plant throughout different growth stages,which is an effective measure to im-prove maize yield and reduce nitrogen fertilizer application.