TY - JOUR AU - Hamani, Abdoul Kader Mounkaila AU - Abubakar, Sunusi Amin AU - Fu, Yuanyuan AU - Kpalari, Djifa Fidele AU - Wang, Guangshuai AU - Duan, Aiwang AU - Gao, Yang AU - Ju, Xiaotang PY - 2025 TI - The coupled effects of various irrigation schedules and split nitrogen fertilization modes on post-anthesis grain weight variation, yield, and grain quality of drip-irrigated winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the North China Plain JO - Journal of Integrative Agriculture (JIA) SN - 2095-3119 SP - 2123 EP - 2137 VL - 24 IS - 6 AB - Irrigation methods and nitrogen (N) fertilization modes have complicated impacts on wheat physiology, growth, and development, leading to the regulation of wheat grain yield and quality. However, the optimal water-N combination for drip-irrigated winter wheat remains unclear. A two-year field study was conducted to evaluate the influences of various N-fertigation and water regimes on wheat post-anthesis grain weight variation, yield, grain NPK content, and grain quality. The two irrigation quotas were I45 (irrigation when crop evapotranspiration reduced by effective rainfall (ETa-P) reaches 45 mm) and I30 (irrigation when ETa-P reaches 30 mm), while the six N application rates were N0–100 (100% at jointing/booting), N25–75 (25% at sowing and 75% at jointing/booting), N50–50 (50% at sowing and 50% at jointing/booting), N75–25 (75% at sowing and 25% at jointing/booting), N100–0 (100% at sowing), and SRF100 (100% of slow-release fertilizer at sowing). The experimental findings showed that post-anthesis grain weight variation, grain yield, grain NPK content, and grain quality were all markedly influenced by the various irrigation schedules and N-fertilization modes. The N50–50 treatment was more beneficial for winter wheat post-anthesis grain weight variation than the N100–0 and N0–100 treatments under the two irrigation quotas and during the two seasons. The highest grain yields of 9.72 and 9.94 (t ha−1) were obtained with the I45N50–50 treatment in 2020–2021 and 2021–2022, respectively. The grain crude protein was higher in the I45SRF100 treatment during the two seasons. The I45N100–0 combination significantly (P<0.05) enhanced the content of grain total starch by 7.30 and 8.23% compared with the I45N0–100 and I30N0–100 treatments, respectively, during the 2021–2021 season. The I45N100–0 treatment significantly (P<0.05) enhanced the content of grain total starch concentration by 7.77, 7.62 and 7.88% compared with the I45N0–100, I30N0–100, and I30N25–75 treatments, respectively, in the 2021–2022 season. The principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the N50–50 split N-fertigation mode could be the optimal choice for farmers during winter wheat production via drip irrigation. UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jia.2023.12.037 DO - 10.1016/j.jia.2023.12.037