Effects of Nutrient Expert recommended fertilization on winter wheat yield, nutrient accumulation, transportation, and utilization

The overuse of fertilizer, unreasonable fertilization rates, and low fertilizer use efficiency affect modern agricultural systems, limiting farmers' income and development of sustainable agriculture in Henan Province, China. This study investigated the effect of the Nutrient Expert system on winter wheat yield, nutrient accumulation, transportation, and fertilizer utilization efficiency. Field experiments were conducted during the 2018-2019 growing season in Hebi and Xinxiang, Henan Province, with seven treatments:farmer conventional fertilization (FP), local official recommended fertilization (ST), Nutrient Expert recommended fertilization (NE), Nutrient Expert recommended fertilization with controlled-release N fertilizer (RNE), and the elimination of N, P, or K input in the NE treatment (NE-N, NE-P, and NE-K, respectively). Compared to the FP treatment, N, P, and K fertilizer rates in the NE treatment decreased by 16.2%, 43.3%, and -13.2% in Hebi and 19.5%, 48.0%, -57.9% in Xinxiang, respectively. The yields of the NE and RNE treatments were higher than those of FP by 4.7%-6.6% and 5.5%-9.6%, respectively; NE and FP did not differ significantly on yield, but the RNE yield was significantly higher than that of FP. Compared to the other treatments, NE and RNE also improved plant nutrition concentrations and accumulation during the growing season. The dry matter accumulation after anthesis in NE and RNE was significantly higher than that in FP (by 9.2%-14.0% and 11.9%-18.6%, respectively), and the contribution of N, P, and K remobilization to the grains before anthesis also increased significantly. The average fertilizer use efficiency of N, P, and K was 42.1%, 19.2%, and 46.6%, respectively, and the average agronomic efficiency was 11.5 kg·kg^-1, 13.2 kg·kg^-1, and 13.3 kg·kg^-1, respectively, based on the Nutrient Expert system of winter wheat. In general, the Nutrient Expert recommended fertilization optimized the fertilizer management, promoted the absorption and utilization of N, P, and K, and improved the winter wheat yield and fertilizer utilization efficiency. Therefore, we encourage the use of the Nutrient Expert system for fertilizer management in the winter wheat fields of Henan Province, China.