Synergistic and sustainable impact of reducing nitrogen fertilizer on growth, yield, and quality of ramie (Boehmeria nivea L.)

ABSTRACT Ramie (Boehmeria nivea L.) is China’s unique environmentally friendly cash crop. To protect the environment more strictly and develop sustainably, the planting process will reduce the input of fertilizer (nitrogen fertilizer). The effect of reduced nitrogen fertilizer on the yield and quality of ramie is still under systematic investigation. Taking the fiber variety ‘H5’ as the target, 4 N application rates of 100% (N 390 kg/hm2), 85%, 70%, and 55% were set, with no N application as the control (marked as N100, N85, N70, N55, and CK), to study the effects of N reduction on ramie yield, N uptake and utilization, and soil fertility. The results showed that the total production of ramie first harvest raw fiber and nitrogen accumulation showed a trend of first rising and then falling with the decrease of nitrogen application, the output of secondary and tertiary harvest ramie decreased with the reduction of nitrogen application, and the total production of N85 treatment was the highest. Compared with N100, N70 and N85 can improve n utilization, N agronomic utilization, N partial productivity, and N harvest index. Nitrogen reduction can reduce the content of soil organic matter, available phosphorus, and available potassium in ramie, and the difference between N85 and N100 is not significant. Nitrogen fertilizer application can be reduced by 15% in ramie production. Graphical abstract