Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 195204

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Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment

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Quantifying economically and ecologically optimum nitrogen rates for rice

production in south-eastern China
Jing Chen a , Yao Huang a,b, , Yonghua Tang c
a
b
c

College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
Shanghai Agricultural Science and Technology Service Center, Shanghai 200335, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 31 December 2010
Received in revised form 3 May 2011
Accepted 4 May 2011
Available online 31 May 2011
Keywords:
Fertilizer nitrogen use
Rice production
Economically optimum
Ecologically optimum
Environment
China

a b s t r a c t
China consumes 32% of the worlds total synthetic fertilizer nitrogen (N). Overuse of fertilizer N has
become widespread, resulting in severe environmental problems. Based on a set of statistical models, we
quantied the optimum N rates for rice production in terms of economic and ecological benets. Model
tting results suggested that the dependence of rice yield, N uptake and N loss on fertilizer N application
rates can be well determined by a quadratic polynomial function, a logistic function and a power function,
respectively. Using these functions, the economically optimum and ecologically optimum N rates in
south-eastern China were estimated to be 180285 kg ha1 and 90150 kg ha1 , respectively, depending
on rice subspecies, varieties and cropping systems. A case study in Jiangsu Province, where single rice
with conventional japonica varieties is dominated, suggested that current N rates (390 kg ha1 ) could be
cut by 26% and 61% when the economically and ecologically optimum N rates, respectively, are adopted,
saving 189 103 and 442 103 metric tons per year, respectively. Cutting one-third of the N use would
not reduce rice yield but is expected to mitigate negative environmental impact in this province.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
China has the second-largest area of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation and the highest rice production in the world, accounting for
19% of the worlds rice area and contributing 29% of the worlds
rice production (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, 2010). Substantial growth in the use of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer since the 1970s has signicantly increased yield
(National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2009), whereas overuse of N
has become widespread (Huang and Tang, 2010; Peng et al., 2010).
As the largest consumer of synthetic N in the world, China accounts
for 32% of the worlds total consumption, and approximately 18%
of the synthetic N is applied to rice paddies (Heffer, 2009).
Rice yield per-hectare in China is currently 50% higher than the
global average (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, 2010), whereas synthetic N fertilizer used in rice cultivation (190 kg ha1 ) is 90% greater than the world average (Heffer,
2009). The areas in which N usage exceeded 250 kg ha1 and
300 kg ha1 , respectively, accounted for 30% and 13% of the land
cultivated rice in the late 1990s/early 2000s. This pattern of usage

Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental

Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Tel.: +86 10 82593955; fax: +86 10 82596146.
E-mail address: huangyao@ibcas.ac.cn (Y. Huang).
0167-8809/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.agee.2011.05.005

resulted in a steep decrease in nitrogen use efciency, primarily in

eastern China (Zhang et al., 2007; Huang and Tang, 2010).
Fertilizer N usage for crop production is economically reasonable in view of the low costs of fertilizer input compared with
the value of the marketable products, but N usage cannot promise
a substantial increase in crop productivity due to diminishing
returns (Tilman et al., 2002; Cassman et al., 2003). According to
eld records, agronomic N use efciency of rice (kg grain yield
increase per kg N applied) was 1518 kg kg N1 in the dry season in the Philippines (Cassman et al., 1996), but was, on average,
10.2 kg kg N1 in China (Zhang et al., 2008). A large number of studies have also shown that reducing fertilizer N input could greatly
improve N utilization efciency (e.g., Cassman et al., 2002; Huang
et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2008; Peng et al., 2010).
Environmental costs from agricultural N loss have been substantial and unavoidable (Vitousek et al., 2009). Nitrogen loss is
positively correlated with N application rates in general (Wang
et al., 2004; Zhao et al., 2009). When N is added to excess, a continuum of environmental hazard is created (Ghosh and Bhat, 1998)
by harming off site ecosystems, damaging to water quality and
aquatic ecosystems, contributing to changes in atmospheric composition and threatening to human health (Vitousek et al., 1997;
Tilman et al., 2002; Liu and Diamond, 2005). Overuse of N fertilizer
has already induced signicant acidication in major Chinese croplands (Guo et al., 2010), pollution in water bodies (Sun and Zhang,
2000; Xie et al., 2007), high NO3 concentrations in ground and

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J. Chen et al. / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 195204

drinking water (Xing et al., 2001; Ju et al., 2004), and increases in

N2 O emissions (Zou et al., 2009) and atmospheric N deposition (Xie
et al., 2008). Total nitrogen discharge from cropland was estimated
to be 34% of the national total in China (Ministry of Environmental
Protection of China et al., 2010).
Much effort has been made to formulate N rates as indictors of economic benets, including mass-balance rate (Stanford,
1973; Scharf et al., 2006), economically optimum N rate (Neeteson
and Wadman, 1987; Sawyer et al., 2006), maximum return to N
(Sawyer et al., 2006), and knowledge-based optimum N fertilizer
(Zhu and Chen, 2002; Zhu, 2006; Ju et al., 2009). Of these possibilities, the economically optimum N rate has been widely adopted as
a benchmark for fertilizer needed in crop production (Cerrato and
Blackmer, 1990; Rehm et al., 2006; Hernandez and Mulla, 2008),
and has came to serve as an indicator of N losses (Hong et al., 2007;
Ju et al., 2009). However, most of these recommendations address
the site-specic optimum N rate. This measure would be difcult to
extend to a large area having various types of rice varieties, climates
and cropping systems. Moreover, less attention has been given to
the measure of ecologically optimum N rates.
Recognizing the limited yield returns and serious environmental problems caused by the overuse of nitrogen fertilizer in China
(Ju et al., 2004; Peng et al., 2006; Zhu, 2006; Zhang et al., 2008; Zou
et al., 2009; Guo et al., 2010), this study pays particular attention
to the management of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer applied to rice
in south-eastern China. The objectives of this study are to quantify
N application rates from the perspective of economic and ecological optima and corresponding rice yields, and to quantify N loss for
different types of rice varieties and cropping systems, thereby helping farmers perform sensible N management to mitigate N-induced
environmental problems.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Research area
The research area is located between latitudes 20 12 N and
35 20 N and longitudes 104 26 E and 121 57 E (Fig. 1), covering
69% of the total rice harvest area and contributing 68% of the
national rice production in China (National Bureau of Statistics of
China, 2009).
Annual precipitation ranges from 790 to 2440 mm, and mean
temperature is 13.522.5 C in this area (http://cdc.cma.gov.cn).
The rice cropping system is typical of double rice (i.e., early-rice
followed by late-rice over a one-year cycle) in the provinces of
Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Zhejiang. Single
rice (i.e., rice followed by upland crops over a one-year cycle) dominates the provinces of Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai. The
dominant rice varieties are conventional indica and japonica, and
hybrid indica.
2.2. Data sources
Data extracted from 70 publications (Appendix A), representing
449 eld measurements at 77 sites (the right-hand map, Fig. 1),
were used to parameterize the models of rice yield, N uptake and
loss associated with fertilizer N rate. These publications reported
the eld measurements of grain yield, the rates of N application,
aboveground biomass at harvest, and N concentration in aboveground biomass. Nitrogen fertilizer used in these eld experiments
typically included urea, ammonium sulfate, ammonium bicarbonate, and nitrogen compounds. Rice variety and growing season were
also documented in these publications. When the variety type was
not reported, we referred to the Chinese Rice Germplasm Resources
(http://www.chinariceinfo.com/variety/).

To determine the coefcients of the models, rice varieties were

categorized as conventional indica (conI-D) and hybrid indica variety (hyI-D) in the double rice-based cropping systems (including
early and late rice), conventional indica (conI-S) and hybrid indica
variety (hyI-S) in the single rice-based cropping systems, and japonica variety (including conventional and hybrid varieties) in the
single rice-based cropping systems (J-S).
2.3. Models of rice yield, N uptake and N loss
2.3.1. Rice yield model
The dependence of fertilizer N-derived grain yield (YN , kg ha1 )
on N rate (N, kg ha1 ) was determined by a quadratic function
(Cassman and Plant, 1992; Dobermann et al., 2000):
YN = Y Y0 = N + N2

(1)

where and are regression coefcients. Y and Y0 are the grain

yields (kg ha1 ) with and without N applied, respectively.
2.3.2. Fertilizer N uptake model
A transformative logistic equation was used to correlate the fertilizer N uptake (NU , kg ha1 ) with fertilizer N rate (N, kg ha1 )
by
NU = a

a
c

1 + (N/b)

(2)

where a, b and c are empirical coefcients. NU refers to fertilizer N uptake by rice plants, including those aboveground and
root biomass over a growing season. We determined the fertilizer N uptake in aboveground biomass (NU abv , kg ha1 ) by
using the N-difference method (Cassman et al., 1998, 2002), i.e.,
NU abv = NU abv N NU abv N0 . NU abv N and NU abv N0 are the amounts
of N in aboveground biomass at harvest under various fertilizer N
application rates and zero-N control, respectively. Using the data
of 15 N-labelled fertilizer experiments (Ai et al., 2003; Tian et al.,
2009), fertilizer N in root biomass at harvest was estimated to be
2.8 0.9% (mean SD, n = 11) of the fertilizer N applied. The amount
of fertilizer N in root biomass was then computed by multiplying
0.028 by fertilizer N rate.
2.3.3. Fertilizer N loss model
Fertilizer N loss (NL , kg ha1 ) was simulated by a power function
of fertilizer N rate as
NL = B0 NB1

(3)

where B0 and B1 are empirical coefcients. The NL denotes

the amount of applied fertilizer N escape to the environment
by NH3 volatilization, nitrication, denitrication, leaching, etc.
Using Schrder et al. (1998), the fertilizer N loss was estimated by
NL = N NU NS NS (kg ha1 ) is the retention of applied N in soil,
which was calculated by multiplying fertilizer N application rate
by the fraction of N retention (NR , %). Using Ju et al. (2009), NR was
nonlinearly correlated with fertilizer N rate by NR = 539.8 N0.65 .
2.4. Determination of economically and ecologically optimum
nitrogen rates
2.4.1. Economically optimum N rate
The economically optimum N rate (NECN , kg ha1 ) was dened as
the fertilizer N rate when the price ratio of fertilizer N to rice yield
is equal to the rst derivative of the yield response function [Eq.
(1)] (Neeteson and Wadman, 1987; Sawyer et al., 2006). Namely,
the marginal cost of fertilization N is equivalent to the marginal

J. Chen et al. / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 195204

197

Fig. 1. Rice cultivation and spatial distribution of experimental sites in south-eastern China. The left-hand map shows the research area, where the boundaries of provinces
are marked by thick lines. The symbols in the right-hand map denote the sites of eld experiments (see details in Appendix A), including indica varieties in the double
rice-based cropping systems (), and indica varieties () and japonica varieties in the single rice-based cropping systems (+). Conventional and hybrid varieties are cultivated
in this region. Abbreviations of provinces: AH, Anhui; FJ, Fujian; GD, Guangdong; GX, Guangxi; HB, Hubei; HN, Hunan; JS, Jiangsu; JX, Jiangxi; SH, Shanghai; ZJ, Zhejiang.

revenue of rice production. From the rst derivative of the yield

model [Eq. (4)], the NECN was estimated by Eq. (5):
dYN
=+2N
dN
NECN =

(4)

PN /PY
2

(5)

where PY refers to the grain price (US$ ton1 ). We adopted the

minimum purchase prices for rice released by the Chinese government (http://www.sdpc.gov.cn/) annually as the rice price to
avoid the price variation among locations and ination. PN is the
cost of N application (US$ ton1 ), including both fertilizer N purchase and labour input. The costs came from census statistics on
rice production (National Development and Reform Commission,
2009). We averaged the rice price and the N cost over the period of
20042008, because the optimum N rate is relatively insensitive to
shifts in prices (Noordwijk and Scholten, 1994; Scharf et al., 2006).
The resulting values were 185 (indica in double rice), 188 (indica in
single rice) and 195 (japonica in single rice) US$ ton1 for the rice
price, and 632, 635 and 619 US$ ton1 for the N costs, respectively.
2.4.2. Ecologically optimum N rate
Analogous to the concept of economically optimum N rate, we
dened the ecologically optimum N rate (NECL , kg ha1 ) as the fertilizer N application rate when the marginal uptake of fertilization
N equals its marginal loss. Taking the derivatives of Eqs. (2) and (3),
we obtained the marginal uptake [Eq. (6)] and the marginal loss
of fertilizer N [Eq. (7)], respectively. NECL was then determined by
solving Eq. (8) for N.
ac
dNU
=

dN
b

 N c1 

1+

 N c 2
b

1+

SPSS version 15.0 (SPSS Inc., 2007) and Origin version 7.5
(OriginLab Co., 2003) were employed to determine model coefcients [Eqs. (13)] by using the data extracted from the literature
(Appendix A) and to perform statistical analysis. The values
of NECL in Eq. (8) were computed using Scilab version 5.2.0
(http://www.scilab.org/).
3. Results
3.1. Yield response to N rate
Rice yield derived from fertilizer N use can be well quantied
by the quadratic function [Eq. (1)] for each of the rice categories
(Fig. 2). Model tting to the observed data results in R2 values of
0.6150.727 at the 0.001 probability level (Table 1).
Equating the rst derivative of yield functions (i.e., marginal
yield) [Eq. (1)] to zero, we obtained the fertilizer N rates required
to approach the maximum grain yield. These rates were estimated
to be 227, 213, 261, 223 and 357 kg ha1 for the rice categories
of conI-D, hyI-D, conI-S, hyI-S and J-S, respectively, corresponding to the fertilizer N-derived yields of 1.90 0.99 (estimate 95%
condence interval), 2.09 1.20, 1.47 0.94, 2.30 1.23 and
2.83 1.50 ton ha1 . Note that the grain yield per unit N use in
hybrid indica was generally higher than in conventional indica. In
the double rice-based cropping systems, the model gave the values
of 9.8 kg yield per kg N in hybrid indica (hyI-D) and 8.4 kg yield per
kg N in conventional indica (conI-D). In the single rice-based cropping systems, the corresponding values were 10.3 kg yield per kg
N in hybrid indica (hyI-S) and 5.6 kg yield per kg N in conventional
indica (conI-S). These results indicate higher N efciency in hybrids
than in conventional varieties.
3.2. Response of fertilizer N uptake and loss to N rate

dNL
= B0 B1 NB1 1
dN

 N c1 
ac

(6)

2.5. Software used

(7)

 N c 2
b

= B0 B1 NB1 1

(8)

The total amount of fertilizer N uptake over a growing season

can be well quantied by a transformative logistic function of N
rate (Fig. 3), yielding R2 values of 0.8840.983 (p < 0.001). Table 2
shows the model parameters and statistical signicance for differ-

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J. Chen et al. / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 195204

Table 1
Parameters of the nonlinear relationship between N-derived rice yield (YN , kg ha1 ) and N rate (N, kg ha1 ).
YN = N + N2

Rice category

Statistical signicant

16.74 (1.05)a
19.55 (1.07)
11.27 (2.22)
20.56 (1.14)
15.86 (1.40)

conI-D
hyI-D
conI-S
hyI-S
J-S
a
***

R2

3.68 (0.40) 102

4.58 (0.47) 102
2.16 (0.85) 102
4.60 (0.47) 102
2.22 (0.48) 102

53
118
16
98
98

0.727***
0.673***
0.636***
0.615***
0.687***

Values in parentheses are standard errors.

Signicant at the 0.001 probability level.

ent rice categories. It is noteworthy that the maximum amounts

of N uptake (i.e. parameter a in Table 2) in the japonica (J-S) and
hybrid indica varieties (hyI-D, hyI-S) are higher than the conventional indica varieties (conI-D, conI-S), suggesting a relatively high
potential for N uptake in the japonica and hybrid indica varieties.
N loss was signicantly correlated with N rate according to the
tted power function (Fig. 3), yielding R2 of values 0.6350.970
(p < 0.001). Table 3 shows the model parameters and statistical signicance for different rice categories.
The N loss will exceed the N uptake when the application rates
of N are higher than a certain amount. From the intersection points
of the N uptake and N loss curves (Fig. 3), it appears that the
N loss would exceed the N uptake when the N rates are higher
than 145 kg ha1 for conventional indica in double rice (Fig. 3a),
210 kg ha1 for hybrid indica in double rice (Fig. 3b), 180 kg ha1
for conventional indica in single rice (Fig. 3c), 315 kg ha1 for hybrid
indica (Fig. 3d) in single rice, and 245 kg ha1 for japonica in single
rice (Fig. 3e), respectively. These values suggest that, within a certain range of N rates, the elds of cultivated japonica and hybrid
indica varieties lost less N than did the elds planted with conventional indica varieties.
3.3. Optimum nitrogen rates, N losses and corresponding yields
Substituting the price of rice grain, the cost of N application,
and the values of parameters and in Table 1 into Eq. (5),
we estimated the economically optimum N rates (NECN ) to be
177286 kg ha1 . Accordingly, the fertilizer N-derived grain yields
were estimated to be 1.342.72 ton ha1 (Table 4) when the values of NECN were substituted for the N rate in Eq. (1). Under the
economically optimum N rates, the N loss was estimated to be
49132 kg ha1 (Table 4), accounting for 2646% of the fertilizer
N added.
By substituting the values of parameters a, b, c (Table 2), B0 and
B1 (Table 3) into Eq. (8) and solving this equation for N, the ecologically optimum N rates (NECL ) were estimated to range from 94
to 152 kg ha1 (Table 4). Accordingly, the fertilizer N-derived grain
yields were estimated to range from 1.06 to 2.06 ton ha1 . Under
the ecologically optimum N rates, the N loss was estimated to be
2253 kg ha1 (Table 4), accounting for 20%36% of the fertilizer N
added.

By shifting economically optimum to ecologically optimum N

rates (Table 4), the N application could be cut by 37%, on average. The corresponding reduction of N loss averaged 44 kg ha1 .
The highest reduction was 79 kg ha1 for the japonica varieties in
single rice (J-S), and the lowest reduction was 16 kg ha1 for the
hybrid indica in single rice (hyI-S) (Table 4).
It must be pointed out, however, that shifting economically optimum to ecologically optimum N rates would reduce grain yields in
general. An average reduction was estimated to be 0.46 ton ha1 ,
accounting for 22% of the fertilizer N-derived yield (YN ), or 6% of
the harvest yield (Y). Nevertheless, shifting economically optimum
to ecologically optimum N rates does not appear to decrease yield
signicantly for the hybrid indica in single-rice cropping systems
(hyI-S in Table 4). This result suggests that it could be feasible to
adopt the ecologically optimum N rate in this cropping system.
3.4. A case of N rates, N losses and rice yields in Jiangsu Province
Single rice with the conventional japonica variety has dominated Jiangsu Province in recent years (Fig. 1). The planting
area averaged 1.867 million hectares over the period 20042008,
accounting for 85% of the total rice area. The japonica yield
averaged 7.96 0.15 ton ha1 , and the average rate of fertilizer N
reached 387 kg ha1 during this period (Table 5).
Using Tang and Huang (2009), the rice yield without additional
N input (Y0 ) was estimated to be 4.94 0.41 ton ha1 in Jiangsu
Province. In light of the estimated NECL , NECN and corresponding
YN of J-S (Table 4), the YECN and YECL were estimated to be 7.66
and 6.82 ton ha1 (Table 5). Compared with the economically optimum and ecologically optimum N rates, the overuse of nitrogen
appears widespread in Jiangsu Province (Table 5). At the current N
rates, we estimated the release of 200 kg N per-hectare into the
environment (Table 5). When the economically optimum and ecologically optimum N rates are adopted, about 100 and 240 kg ha1
could be cut, respectively. These measures could reduce N loss by
35% and 74% kg ha1 , respectively (Table 5).
Extrapolating the values in Table 5 to the planting area of single japonica rice (1.867 M ha), we estimated that the total amount
of N cut by adopting these measures could reach approximately
189 103 metric tons per year for the economically optimum N
rate and 442 103 metric tons per year for the ecologically opti-

Table 2
Parameters of the nonlinear relationship between fertilizer N uptake (NU , kg ha1 ) and N rate (N, kg ha1 ).
Rice category

conI-D
hyI-D
conI-S
hyI-S
J-S
a
***

NU = a

a
1+(N/b)c

Statistical signicant

R2

79.46 ( 9.77)a
124.42 (35.64)
141.10 (26.47)
164.67 (25.16)
203.06 (28.14)

95.79 (12.69)
122.24 (47.66)
170.30 (38.22)
133.65 (29.26)
233.06 (41.50)

2.28 (0.65)
1.58 (0.59)
1.93 (0.48)
1.55 (0.32)
1.65 (0.21)

42
60
15
76
115

0.884***
0.901***
0.983***
0.910***
0.954***

Values in parentheses are standard errors.

Signicant at the 0.001 probability level.

J. Chen et al. / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 195204

199

Table 3
Parameters of the nonlinear relationship between N loss (NL , kg ha1 ) and N rate (N, kg ha1 ).
NL = B0 NB1

Rice category

conI-D
hyI-D
conI-S
hyI-S
J-S
a
***

Statistical signicant

B0

B1

R2

2.47 (1.65) 102 a

8.02 (10.65) 104
5.47 (2.23) 102
2.50 (1.97) 103
4.54 (0.82) 102

1.56 (0.13)
2.17 (0.26)
1.39 (0.08)
1.89 (0.15)
1.41 (0.03)

29
41
12
52
97

0.832***
0.635***
0.970***
0.751***
0.949***

Values in parentheses are standard errors.

Signicant at the 0.001 probability level.

Table 4
Estimated economically optimum and ecologically optimum N rates (N), N losses (NL ) and grain yield (YN , Y).
Rice category

conI-D
hyI-D
conI-S
hyI-S
J-S
a
b
c

Y0 a (ton ha1 )

4.28 (0.66)
5.15 (0.83)
6.31 (0.43)
6.71 (0.85)
6.15 (0.81)

Economically optimum

Ecologically optimum

N (kg ha1 )

NL (kg ha1 )

YN b (ton ha1 )

Yc (ton ha1 )

N (kg ha1 )

NL (kg ha1 )

YN b (ton ha1 )

Yc (ton ha1 )

181
177
183
187
286

82
61
76
49
132

1.82
2.03
1.34
2.24
2.72

6.10
7.18
7.65
8.95
8.87

94
112
123
152
150

30
22
44
33
53

1.25
1.62
1.06
2.06
1.88

5.53
6.77
7.37
8.77
8.03

Average of the grain yield without N applied in eld experiments (Appendix A). Values in parentheses are standard deviations.
Fertilizer N-derived grain yield.
Harvested grain yield.

mum N rate. Accordingly, the annual reductions of N loss could be

131 103 and 278 103 metric tons, respectively.
4. Discussion
4.1. Uncertainties in the estimation of optimum N rates
It should be pointed out that the present estimates of either economically optimum or ecologically optimum N rates (Table 4) are
far from robust due to insufcient datasets (Appendix A) used to
determine model parameters (Tables 13). Extrapolating the models to N rates higher than 300 kg ha1 may introduce errors into the
estimates of rice yield, N uptake and loss. This source of errors is
particularly likely for the indica varieties in the double-rice cropping systems (Figs. 2a and 3b) and the conventional indica varieties
in the single-rice cropping systems (Figs. 2c and 3c), although the
model t is statistically signicant (Tables 13). Moreover, N retention in soils depends not only on fertilizer N supply but also on
agricultural management (Robertson and Vitousek, 2009) and soil
type (Macdonald et al., 2002). Using a single nonlinear regression
(Ju et al., 2009) may also introduce errors into the estimated N
retention, and thus N loss [Eq. (3)].
Using the data from on-farm eld measurements with seven N
rates in the Taihu region, located in eastern China, Ju et al. (2009)
established a logarithmic model to correlate N loss with N rate for
single rice. For N rates of 100350 kg ha1 , their model estimated
the N loss to be 40200 kg ha1 (Ju et al., 2009). Estimates using

the present model [Eq. (3), Table 3] showed an average N loss to

be 26 kg ha1 with a N rate of 100 kg ha1 , and 175 kg ha1 with a
N rate of 350 kg ha1 in the single-rice cropping systems (conI-S,
hyI-S and J-S), which was slightly lower than the estimates of Ju
et al. (2009). It is likely that the extrapolation could be improved
when eld measurements with higher N rates and site-specic N
retention in soils are available for model tting.
Indigenous N supply largely affects crop N demand (Dobermann
and Fairhurst, 2000). Data from eld experiments (Appendix A)
showed a wide variation of yield in zero-N plots (Y0 in Table 4),
suggesting that indigenous N supply depends not only on soil
fertility but also on climate (Dobermann et al., 2003) and genotypes or cultivars (Ortiz-Monasterio et al., 1997; Muurinena et al.,
2007). Ignoring these factors will lead to errors in the estimates
of rice yield without N applied (Y0 ). Nevertheless, higher Y0 in
hybrid indica than in conventional indica was identied (Table 4),
which is likely attributed to vigorous root system of hybrid varieties
(Dobermann and Fairhurst, 2000).
4.2. Understanding of the ecological optimum N fertilization
Although agriculture in China utilizes only 7% of the worlds
arable land area, it feeds some 22% of the global population. Rice
is the major staple food for Chinese people. According to Cheng
et al. (2007), rice production in China should increase 14% by
2030 (relative to 2010) to meet the rice demand for the growing
population. Theoretically speaking, the N-induced negative envi-

Table 5
Estimated N loss, N cut and yield with optimum N rates in Jiangsu Province.
Item

N rate (kg ha1 )

Yield (ton ha1 )

(kg ha
Average over 20042008
Economically optimum
Ecologically optimum

387a
286
150

7.96b
7.66
6.82

N cutc

N loss

202
132
53

1 d

(%)

65
26

(kg ha
101
237

Yield reductionc
)

(%)

(ton ha1 )

(%)

26
61

0.30
1.14

3.8
14.3

a
The N rate includes synthetic and complex fertilizers N (National Development and Reform Commission, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009), and manure N (Zou et al., 2009).
We assumed a nitrogen fraction of 35% in the complex fertilizers (International Fertilizer Industry Association, http://www.fertilizer.org/).
b
Data come from Statistical Yearbook of Jiangsu Province (Statistics Bureau of Jiangsu Province, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
c
Relative to the average over 20042008.
d
Estimated using Eq. (3).

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J. Chen et al. / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 195204

Fig. 2. Model tting (blue lines) of fertilizer N-derived grain yield vs. N rates with
95% condence intervals (dark lines) for 5 rice categories. (a) conI-D; (b) hyI-D; (c)
conI-S; (d) hyI-S; (e) J-S. The category abbreviations: con, conventional variety; hy,
hybrid variety; I, indica rice; J, japonica rice; D, double rice-based cropping systems;
S, single rice-based cropping systems. (For interpretation of the references to color
in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of the article.)

ronmental impacts are inevitable when the synthetic fertilizer N is

applied to the cropland, but N input is essential for high crop yields.
Nevertheless, the fertilizer N rates that maintain high crop yields
while minimizing N loss and its subsequent environmental dam-

Fig. 3. Model tting of N uptake (dark lines) and N loss (blue lines) vs. N rates. (a)
conI-D; (b) hyI-D; (c) conI-S; (d) hyI-S; (e) J-S.

ages should be greatly concerned for a given rice-based cropping

system or in a particular region (Galloway et al., 2008).
Analogous to the concept of economically optimum N rate, we
dened the ecologically optimum N rate [Eq. (8)] and quantied the
N rates for different rice categories (Table 4). However, it appears
difcult to justify the ecological optimum N fertilizer application,

J. Chen et al. / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 195204

because we are lack of a standard measure to quantify the ecological

costs caused by the synthetic N fertilizer application at present. Ideally, the ecologically optimum N rate should be derived in a similar
manner to the economically optimum N that the marginal revenue
of rice production is equal to the marginal cost of fertilization N by:

PN +
NECL =

n


PECL,i

i=1

201

cer was signicantly related to the concentrations of nitrate and

nitrite in drinking water. It is no doubt that shifting from economically optimum to ecologically optimum N rates (Table 4) could
reduce risk to public health.
4.3. Feasibility of economic and ecological optimum N
fertilization

/PY
(9)

where PECL,i represents the ecological cost in the ith category caused
by the synthetic N fertilizer application. However, we simply do not
know how to quantify the ecological cost for a given category in
China, such as N2 O emission (IPCC, 2007), eutrophication of water
bodies (Guo, 2007), soil acidication (Guo et al., 2010) and public
health (Lin et al., 2000; Zhang et al., 2003).
Based on the concept of willingness to pay (WTP) for human
life or health, for ecosystem services and greenhouse gas emission
reduction, Brink and Grinsven (2011) estimated that excess nitrogen in the environment costs the European Union (EU) between
D 70 billion (US$100 billion) and D 320 billion per year, of which
about 75% is related to health damage and air pollution. Similar to
Eq. (9), Brink and Grinsven (2011) suggested that the optimal level
of N-mitigation for society could be reached when the marginal
cost of mitigation is equal to the marginal benet of reduced environmental impacts. They estimated that the social optimal N-rate
was between 35 and 90 kg ha1 lower than the farm (private) optimal N-rate for winter wheat and oilseed rape (Brink and Grinsven,
2011). Our estimates suggested that the ecological optimal N-rate
was between 35 and 136 kg ha1 lower than the economical optimal N-rate (Table 4). This difference corresponds well to Brink and
Grinsven (2011) and results by Brentrup et al. (2004) who found a
difference of 50100 kg ha1 by applying the life cycle assessment
(LCA) to winter wheat in the UK. It is hoped that the ecologically
optimum N rate could be accurately determined when the ecological costs of N application (PECL,i in Eq. (9)) are well quantied in
China.
Fertilizer N is lost due to gaseous emission, surface runoff and
leaching. Much of this loss is as the gaseous N, varying from 20%
to 50% of the total N input in irrigated rice cultivation in China
(Zhu, 1997; Bao et al., 2006; Ju et al., 2009). Of increasing concern
is N2 O due to its potent impact on global warming. The fertilizer N-induced direct N2 O emissions from rice cultivation in China
increased with an average rate of 6.7 Gg N2 ON per decade over the
period 1950s1990s (Zou et al., 2009). On a national scale, improving nitrogen use efciency (NUE) to 45% is expected to reduce
fertilizer N-induced direct N2 O emission from rice cultivation by
711 Gg N2 O-N per year (Huang and Tang, 2010). Under 45% NUE,
N rates in the rice area (Fig. 1) were estimated to range from 85 to
185 kg ha1 with an average of 140 kg ha1 using Huang and Tang
(2010), which is close to the ecologically optimum N rates in Table 4.
Agricultural runoff and leaching diminish human well-being
and increase risk to public health. An accumulation of nutrient-rich
sewage and agricultural runoff in Taihu, Chinas third-largest lake,
resulted in eutrophication and harmful algal blooms in 2007, leading to a drinking water crisis (Guo, 2007). Nitrate levels in ground
and drinking water are often high in China (Zhang et al., 1996; Chen
et al., 2005; Li et al., 2007) and are generally correlated with the rate
of use of nitrogen fertilizer (Zhang et al., 2003; Li et al., 2007; Song
et al., 2009; Zhao et al., 2010a). Public health agencies have long recognized that excessive nitrate in water can sometimes lead to a fatal
condition in infants (Knobeloch et al., 2000). Nitrosamines, which
are produced from nitrites and associated with various human cancers (Follett and Follett, 2001), have also been observed in drinking
water samples in Chinas rice region (Lin et al., 2000). Lin et al.
(2000) and Zhang et al. (2003) reported that the mortality of can-

There is much evidence that a good management of nutrients

in rice cultivation can improve crop yield while reducing fertilizer N use (Dobermann and Fairhurst, 2000). In the site-specic
N management (SSNM), N application is distributed at one day
before transplanting, midtillering, panicle initiation and heading
with approximate proportions of 35, 20, 30 and 15%, respectively
(Peng et al., 2006). By summarizing datasets from eld experiments
and demonstration trials of rice conducted in six provinces of China
between 1997 and 2007, Peng et al. (2010) concluded that on average, SSNM reduced N fertilizer by 32% and increased grain yield
by 5% compared with farmers N practices. The yield increase was
associated with the reduction in insect and disease damage and
improved lodging resistance of rice crop under the optimal N inputs
(Peng et al., 2010).
Putting the knowledge-based optimum N management (KONM)
techniques (Zhu and Chen, 2002; Zhu, 2006) into practice in the
Taihu region, the additions of N fertilizer could be cut in one-third
without loss of yield (Ju et al., 2009). A three-year eld experiment
conducted in the same region indicated that reducing synthetic N
use from 300 kg ha1 to 150 kg ha1 did not statistically decrease
rice yield, but reduced N losses of NH3 by 68%, runoff by 64%,
and leaching by 85% (Wang et al., 2007a). In Jiangsu Province, the
modied farmers practices with 170 kg N ha1 increased rice yield
by approximately 10% compared with the farmers practices with
240 kg N ha1 (Peng et al., 2006). It is also noteworthy that a balanced fertilization can help to improve rice yield (Zhao et al., 2010b;
Miao et al., 2010; Li et al., 2010). Analysis of 135 paired data from
eld experiments of early rice conducted in Fujian Province indicated that the balanced fertilization increased yield by 7.5% at an N
rate of 150 kg ha1 (Li et al., 2010).
Overall, the reduction in fertilizer N use in the practices of SSNM,
KONM and balanced fertilization did not lead to the loss but to the
improvement of rice yield. Depending on different rice categories,
the ecologically optimum N rates were estimated to range from
94 kg ha1 to 152 kg ha1 (Table 4), which is in accordance with
the N rates in SSNM (Peng et al., 2010), modied farmers practices
(Peng et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2007b) and the balanced fertilization (Li et al., 2010; Zhao et al., 2010b) to a certain extent but lower
than in KONM (Table 6). It appears that the yield reduction of 6%
(29%) when shifting from economically optimum to ecologically
optimum N rates (Tables 4 and 5) could be compensated by applying the right fertilizer at the right time, right rate and in the right
place to meet crop demand (Roberts, 2007; Snyder et al., 2009). In
Jiangsu Province, cutting one-third of the current N use (Table 5)
would be most feasible if KONM is practiced (Ju et al., 2009).
4.4. Perspective on the economic and ecological optimum N
fertilization
Overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has become widespread
across China (Ju et al., 2009; Huang and Tang, 2010; Miao et al.,
2010), resulting in severe environmental problems (Guo, 2007; Guo
et al., 2010). If the excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer is
not brought under control, Chinas environment will continue to
deteriorate.
Current fertilizer N rate in most rice regions of China (Huang
and Tang, 2010) is apparently higher than the economic and ecological optimum (Tables 4 and 5). Chinese scientists have made

202

J. Chen et al. / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 142 (2011) 195204

Table 6
Nitrogen rate and rice yield under different practices of N fertilization.
N management

N rate (kg ha1 )

Grain yield (ton ha1 )

Yield increase (%)

Farmers practice
SSNMa

195
133

7.08
7.47

Farmers practice
KONMb

300
200

8.01
8.27

Imbalanced fertilization
Balanced fertilization

150
150

6.57
7.07

a
b

Reference

107

Peng et al. (2010)

26

Ju et al. (2009)

135

Li et al. (2010)

Site-specic N management.
Knowledge-based optimum N management.

considerable progress in devising improved N management practices to limit N overuse (Table 6), but uptake by farmers has been
limited by technical, institutional and socio-economic factors. For
example, many young farmers now leave the country side for construction or factory jobs in the city after sowing their elds. That
means they do not have time to apply nitrogen in multiple doses.
Other farmers are simply unwilling to risk cutting back fertilizer
use for fear of reducing crop yield (Hvistendahl, 2010). Another reason some farmers overuse N fertilizer is because they simply lack
knowledge about nutrient management and environment protection.
Reducing N fertilizer use is urgent in order to mitigate the risk of
environmental pollution and human health threats in China. This
could be accomplished through stringent policies of fertilizer regulation, recommendations of improved N management practices for
the farmers, training and education of farmers on nutrient management, and public awareness of environment protection. It is hoped
that the N-induced negative environmental impact could be greatly
mitigated if the economically or ecologically optimum N rates are
adopted.

5. Conclusion
By balancing the marginal costs and the marginal benets
derived from a set of statistical models of rice yield, fertilizer N
uptake and loss, we estimated that the economically optimum and
ecologically optimum N rates for rice production in south-eastern
China are 180285 kg ha1 and 90150 kg ha1 , corresponding to
rice yields of 6.18.9 ton ha1 and 5.58.8 ton ha1 , respectively. In
Jiangsu Province, switching from current N rates to economically
optimum and ecologically optimum N rates allows saving 189 103
and 442 103 metric tons of N use per year, and reducing N loss by
35% and 74%, respectively. Cutting one-third of the current N use
would be feasible in this province.

Acknowledgements
This work was jointly supported by the CAS Strategic Priority Research Program (Grant No. XDA05020200) and the
National Key Basic Research Development Foundation (Grant
No. 2010CB950604). We thank Prof. Ju XT at the China Agricultural University for providing the model of N retention.
Thanks are also dedicated to two anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments that led to the improvement of this
paper.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.agee.2011.05.005.

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