Optimizing sowing patterns in winter wheat can reduce NO emissions and improve grain yield and NUE by enhancing N uptake.

Increasing nitrogen (N) input is essential to satisfy the rising global wheat demand, but this increases nitrous oxide (NO) emissions, thereby exacerbating global climate change. Higher yields accompanied by reduced NO emissions are essential to synergistically reduce greenhouse warming and ensure global food security. In this study, we conducted a trial using two sowing patterns (conventional drilling sowing [CD] and wide belt sowing [WB], with seedling belt widths of 2-3 and 8-10 cm, respectively) with four N rates (0, 168, 240, and 312 kg ha, hereafter N0, N168, N240, and N312, respectively) during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 growing seasons. We investigated the impacts of growing season, sowing pattern, and N rate on NO emissions, NO emissions factors (EFs), global warming potential (GWP), yield-scaled NO emissions, grain yield, N use efficiency (NUE), plant N uptake and soil inorganic N concentrations at jointing, anthesis, and maturity. The results showed that sowing pattern and N rate interactions influenced the NO emissions markedly. Compared to CD, WB significantly reduced cumulative NO emissions, NO EFs, GWP, and yield-scaled NO emissions for N168, N240, and N312, with the largest reduction seen at N312. Furthermore, WB markedly improved plant N uptake and reduced soil inorganic N compared to CD at each N rate. Correlation analyses indicated that WB mitigated the NO emissions at various N rates mainly through efficient N uptake and reduced soil inorganic N. The highest grain yield occurred under a combination of WB and N312, under which the yield-scaled NO emissions were equal to the local management (sowing with CD at N240). In conclusion, WB sowing could synergistically decrease NO emissions and obtain high grain yields and NUEs, especially at higher N rates.