ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Optimizing Nitrogen Management in Grain Rotations: Balancing Retention and PhotosynthesisThreshold effects of nitrogen reduction on crop-specific allocation priorities: optimizing N retention-photosynthesis balance in economic-grain rotation systems
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hebei Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences Dryland Farming Institute, Hengshui, China
- 2Northwest A&F University College of Agronomy, Yangling, China
- 3Northwest A&F University School of Water Conservancy and Architectural Engineering, Yangling, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Diversified cropping systems exhibited enhanced resource utilization efficiency, yet the nitrogen (N) allocation mechanisms and utilization patterns in economic-grain rotation systems remain poorly understood. This study investigated the cross-seasonal N allocation dynamics and photosynthetic responses to N reduction in a garlic-maize rotation system through a three-season field experiment with graded N treatments (garlic: 300 and 240 kg N ha⁻¹; maize: 220, 175, and 130 kg N ha⁻¹). N reduction increased soil water-filled pore space (WFPS) by 5.2–8.7% during maize seasons but decreased it in garlic seasons. It also reduced topsoil (0–20 cm) NO₃⁻–N accumulation by >15% compared to deeper layers. Leaf physiological parameters–including leaf area index (LAI), SPAD values, and net photosynthetic rates–declined by 18–32% under N reduction, with garlic demonstrating higher sensitivity. Residual N from preceding garlic crops stabilized maize LAI (±6.5%), indicating compensatory inter-season adjustments. Critical thresholds were identified: maize achieved optimized grain nitrogen partitioning (65% to 72%) and a 22% improvement in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) with a reduction of 45 kg N ha⁻¹ without significant yield penalty (less than 5%). Conversely, garlic experienced a 23% increase in stem nitrogen translocation when nitrogen was reduced by 60 kg N ha⁻¹, which resulted in a 34% decrease in bulb allocation. Annual N reduction (8.65–28.85%) enhanced maize agronomic efficiency (+40%) but reduced garlic yields (4.2–27.5%) and partial factor productivity (−18%). These results reveal contrasting, crop-specific N allocation strategies and support the development of demand-driven N management to balance productivity and economic outcomes in multi-cropping systems.
Keywords: gGarlic-maize rotation system, Nitrogen allocation dynamics, Nitrogen utilization, nNitrogen distribution, Photosynthetic coupling
Received: 05 Dec 2025; Accepted: 03 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Liu, Zheng, Hui, Liu, Cao, Li, Dang and Zheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Hongkai Dang
Chunlian Zheng
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.