Pea growth, yield, and quality affected by nitrogen fertilization to previous crop in small grain–pea rotations

Abstract

Starter N fertilization at low rates may enhance pea (Pisum sativum L.) performance, but little information exists about the effect of N fertilization rate to previous crop (NRPC) on pea growth, yield, and quality in small grain–pea rotations. We examined the effect of N fertilization rates to barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) on succeeding pea growth, yield, and quality in barley–pea and spring wheat–pea rotations from 2006 to 2019 in the semiarid environment of US northern Great Plains. We measured pea plant density, straw and grain yields, harvest index, straw N concentration, grain protein concentration, grain test weight, straw and grain N uptake, and N harvest index. In the barley–pea rotation, pea grain yield increased with increased NRPC. Grain test weight was greater without than with NRPC in 2008 and 2009. In the spring wheat–pea rotation, straw yield was greater for 50 than 0 kg N ha⁻¹ of NRPC in 2014, 2018, and 2019. Grain yield and N uptake were greater with than without NRPC in 2014, 2015, and 2019, but grain test weight varied with NRPC and year. Plant density, harvest index, straw N concentration, grain protein concentration, straw N uptake, and N harvest index varied with year in both barley–pea and spring wheat–pea rotations. Nitrogen fertilization to barley or spring wheat can enhance succeeding pea grain yield and N uptake during years with normal growing season precipitation in barley–pea and spring–wheat pea rotations in the semiarid region of the US northern Great Plains.