Field experiments were conducted to study the effects of varying rates of nitrogen application on soil mineral nitrogen content, amount of nitrogen released from the straw, and grain yield of late sowing wheat with straw returning. The result showed that a high nitrogen fertilizer application rate enhanced the mineral nitrogen content in the soil layer of 0 to 50 cm, and also in the lower soil layers when using N at 270 and 360 kg·hm^-2 with the advance of growth stages. The amount of nitrogen released form the straw increased as the nitrogen application rate increased; the lowest appeared from overwintering to jointing, and the highest from jointing to maturity. During the whole growing season, apparent nitrogen surplus occurred when the nitrogen application rate was higher than 180 kg·hm^-2. The N surplus before jointing was significantly higher than that from jointing to maturity. Grain yield reached the highest at a nitrogen application rate of 270 kg·hm^-2, and a higher application rate obviously decreased the nitrogen use efficiency. It could be concluded that applying nitrogen at 270 kg·him^-2 could improve the grain yield of late sowing wheat with straw returning with the optimal ecological benefit.