Effect of Different Nitrogen Application Rate on Growth and Yield of Wild Chrysanthemum under Intercropping System

【Objective】 The present experiment was conducted for a comparison of the differences in the growth and yield of wild Chrysanthemum produced by different N application rates under the intercropping system so as to select an optimum N application rate and to provide guidance for the producers who are practicing high yield and high-efficiency cultivation of wild Chrysanthemum. 【Method】 Through filed experiment, the plant height, branch number, dry matter accumulation, leaf area index(LAI), SPAD value of leaf, flesh flower yield and dry flower yield of wild Chrysanthemum treated with different nitrogen application under the intercropping system of“fortunella margarita-wild Chrysanthemum”were measured and compared. 【Result】 The results showed that the growth and yield of wild Chrysanthemum were significantly affected by N application rates. The plant height and branch number increased significantly with the increase of nitrogen application.The flesh flower yield and the dry flower yield in the 135 kg/hm2 N application rate treatment were the highest, reaching to 8 356.0 kg/hm2 and 2 615.7 kg/hm2, respectively. However, excessive N application was not conducive to the further increase of yield. There was no significant difference among the six N application treatments in terms of the ratio of drying. The high yield in the 135 kg/hm2 N application rate treatment mainly got benefit from the increase of flesh flower yield (37.6 g) and dry flower yield (11.77g ) per plant. Its total dry matter reached 962.7 g/m2. This might owe to the relatively high SPAD value of leaf and the relatively high leaf area index (LAI) during the growing period. Having higher LAI at fullflowering stage could improve the production capability of dry matter and the number of flowers, thus significantly increased dry matter accumulation (DMA) and the yield of flesh flower. 【Conclusion】 In intercropping system, the application of N could significantly accelerate the growth and increase the yield of the wild chrysanthemum. In this experiment, the highest yield of the wild chrysanthemum in N4 treatment was 135 kg/hm2. Therefore, it is recommended that the optimum N application rate for the wild chrysanthemum is 135 kg/hm2.