One-off basal application of nitrogen fertilizer increases the biological yield but not the economic yield of cotton in moderate fertility soil

Basal and topdressing split application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer is widely used in cotton in many cotton-growing countries, including China. Recently, in the Yellow River valley of China, one-off basal application of N fertilizer has been applied to meet the challenge of increasing labor costs. However, how one-off basal application of N fertilizer affects cotton yields and N use efficiency and by what mechanisms are not clear. Therefore, an experiment was conducted using full-season (K836) and short-season (LM532) cotton cultivars in a moderate fertility field in the Yellow River valley in 2019 and 2020. A split-plot design was established for each variety with the main plots assigned to a mulching pattern (with or without plastic film mulching) and the subplots assigned to an N rate (0 or 195 kg N ha−1, abbreviated as N0 and N195). Cotton yield and yield components, biomass accumulation and distribution, and total N and 15N absorption and utilization were determined each year. Compared with N0, one-off basal application of N fertilizer (N195) did not increase boll density, boll weight, lint percentage or seedcotton yield regardless of cultivar or mulching. Biomass and total N uptake of cotton increased significantly in N195 compared with N0, but the increases occurred primarily in vegetative organs, leading to reductions in the harvest index and N yield efficiency index. With one-off basal application of N fertilizer, more than 80 % of the N in cotton plants derived from soil. Approximately 28 % of 15N-labeled urea was absorbed by cotton plants, of which only approximately 35 % was used in forming seedcotton yield. Therefore, cotton plants with one-off basal application of N fertilizer only recovered a small amount of fertilizer N, and even less of the fertilizer N was used in yield formation. As a result, the harvest index of cotton decreased, and thus, one-off basal application of N fertilizer failed to increase seedcotton yield. Cultivar and plastic film mulching did not alter the effects of one-off basal application of N fertilizer. Therefore, although one-off basal application of N fertilizer in cotton is a labor-saving approach, it should not be encouraged in moderate fertility soil in the Yellow River valley or other areas with similar ecology. •One-off basal N application did not increase the seedcotton yield compared with no-N fertilization.•One-off N application led to a low proportion of plant N derived from 15N and even less for yield forma