sustainability Article Factors Affecting Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Grain Yield of Summer Maize on Smallholder Farms in the North China Plain Guangfeng Chen 1,† ID , Hongzhu Cao 2,†, Jun Liang 3, Wenqi Ma 2, Lufang Guo 1, Shuhua Zhang 1, Rongfeng Jiang 1, Hongyan Zhang 1,* ID , Keith W. T. Goulding 4 ID and Fusuo Zhang 1 1 College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China;
[email protected] (G.C.);
[email protected] (L.G.);
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[email protected] (F.Z.) 2 College of Resources and Environment Science, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, Hebei, China;
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[email protected] (W.M.) 3 Agricultural Bureau of Laoling County, Dezhou 253600, Shandong, China;
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[email protected] † These authors contributed equally to this work. Received: 10 December 2017; Accepted: 23 January 2018; Published: 31 January 2018 Abstract: The summer maize yields and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (N) fertilizer (PFPN, grain yield per unit N fertilizer) on smallholder farms in China are low, and differ between farms due to complex, sub-optimal management practices. We collected data on management practices and yields from smallholder farms in three major summer maize-producing sites—Laoling, Quzhou and Xushui—in the North China Plain (NCP) for two growing seasons, during 2015–2016. Boundary line analysis and a Proc Mixed Model were used to evaluate the contribution of individual factors and −1 −1 their interactions.