Abstract:

To explore the best and most effective fertilizer application amount for barley variety ‘Baodamai.20’, 7 treatments were set up to reduce fertilizer application in barley production under other conditions being the same. The results showed that: (1) the treatment with 10% fertilizer reduction had the highest yield, followed by 20% fertilizer reduction treatment and then the normal fertilizer level treatment; (2) the yield of 20% fertilizer reduction treatment was significantly lower than that of 10% reduction treatment, but significantly higher than that of other treatments, whose yield declined with the decrease of fertilizer amount; (3) the input-output ratio increased with the decrease of fertilizer, and 10% and 20% fertilizer reduction had relatively big benefit; (4) 10% and 20% fertilizer reduction had higher number of grains per ear and 1000-grain weight compared with the normal fertilizer level treatment. For ‘Baodamai 20’, the goal of cost-efficiency could be achieved by reducing fertilizer application for 10%-20%.

Key words: barley, chemical fertilizer, reducing fertilizer application, yield, income, input-output ratio