Dataset Information

Nitrogen fluxes at the root-soil interface show a mismatch of nitrogen fertilizer supply and sugarcane root uptake capacity.

ABSTRACT: Globally only ?50% of applied nitrogen (N) fertilizer is captured by crops, and the remainder can cause pollution via runoff and gaseous emissions. Synchronizing soil N supply and crop demand will address this problem, however current soil analysis methods provide little insight into delivery and acquisition of N forms by roots. We used microdialysis, a novel technique for in situ quantification of soil nutrient fluxes, to measure N fluxes in sugarcane cropping soils receiving different fertilizer regimes, and compare these with N uptake capacities of sugarcane roots. We show that in fertilized sugarcane soils, fluxes of inorganic N exceed the uptake capacities of sugarcane roots by several orders of magnitude. Contrary, fluxes of organic N closely matched roots' uptake capacity. These results indicate root uptake capacity constrains plant acquisition of inorganic N. This mismatch between soil N supply and root N uptake capacity is a likely key driver for low N efficiency in the studied crop system. Our results also suggest that (i) the relative contribution of inorganic N for plant nutrition may be overestimated when relying on soil extracts as indicators for root-available N, and (ii) organic N may contribute more to crop N supply than is currently assumed.

SUBMITTER: Brackin R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4620560 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Nitrogen fluxes at the root-soil interface show a mismatch of nitrogen fertilizer supply and sugarcane root uptake capacity.

Brackin Richard R Näsholm Torgny T Robinson Nicole N Guillou Stéphane S Vinall Kerry K Lakshmanan Prakash P Schmidt Susanne S Inselsbacher Erich E

Scientific reports 20151026

Globally only ≈50% of applied nitrogen (N) fertilizer is captured by crops, and the remainder can cause pollution via runoff and gaseous emissions. Synchronizing soil N supply and crop demand will address this problem, however current soil analysis methods provide little insight into delivery and acquisition of N forms by roots. We used microdialysis, a novel technique for in situ quantification of soil nutrient fluxes, to measure N fluxes in sugarcane cropping soils receiving different fertiliz ...[more]

PMID: 26496834

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Project description:Root respiration is a major contributor to terrestrial carbon flux. Many studies have shown root respiration to increase with an increase in root tissue nitrogen (N) concentration across species and study sites. Studies have also shown that both root respiration and root N concentration typically decrease with root age. The effects of added N may directly increase respiration of existing roots or may affect respiration by shifting the age structure of a root population by stimulating growth. To the best of our knowledge, no study has ever examined the effect of added N as a function of root age on root respiration. In this study, root respiration of 13-year-old Populus tremuloides Michx. trees grown in the field and 1-year-old P. tremuloides seedlings grown in containers was analyzed for the relative influence of root age and root N concentration independent of root age on root respiration. Field roots were first tracked using root windows and then sampled at known age. Nitrogen was either applied or not to small patches beneath the windows. In a pot experiment, each plant was grown with its root system split between two separate pots and N was applied at three different levels, either at the same or at different rates between pots. Root N concentration ranged between 1.4 and 1.7% in the field experiment and 1.8 and 2.6% in the seedling experiment. We found that addition of N increased root N concentration of only older roots in the field but of roots of all ages in the potted seedlings. In both experiments, the age-dependent decline in root respiration was largely consistent, and could be explained by a negative power function. Respiration decreased ∼50% by 3 weeks of age. Although root age was the dominant factor affecting respiration in both experiments, in the field experiment, root N also contributed to root respiration independent of root age. These results add further insight into respiratory responses of roots to N addition and mechanisms underlying the tissue N-respiration relationship.

Project description:The warming of world climate systems is driving interest in the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the agricultural sector, practices that mitigate GHG emissions include those that (1) reduce emissions [e.g., those that reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions by avoiding excess nitrogen (N) fertilizer application], and (2) increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks (e.g., by retaining instead of burning crop residues). Sugarcane is a globally important crop that can have substantial inputs of N fertilizer and which produces large amounts of crop residues ('trash'). Management of N fertilizer and trash affects soil carbon and nitrogen cycling, and hence GHG emissions. Trash has historically been burned at harvest, but increasingly is being retained on the soil surface as a 'trash blanket' in many countries. The potential for trash retention to alter N fertilizer requirements and sequester SOC was investigated in this study. The APSIM model was calibrated with data from field and laboratory studies of trash decomposition in the wet tropics of northern Australia. APSIM was then validated against four independent data sets, before simulating location × soil × fertilizer × trash management scenarios. Soil carbon increased in trash blanketed soils relative to SOC in soils with burnt trash. However, further increases in SOC for the study region may be limited because the SOC in trash blanketed soils could be approaching equilibrium; future GHG mitigation efforts in this region should therefore focus on N fertilizer management. Simulated N fertilizer rates were able to be reduced from conventional rates regardless of trash management, because of low yield potential in the wet tropics. For crops subjected to continuous trash blanketing, there was substantial immobilization of N in decomposing trash so conventional N fertilizer rates were required for up to 24 years after trash blanketing commenced. After this period, there was potential to reduce N fertilizer rates for crops when trash was retained (?20 kg N ha(-1) per plant or ratoon crop) while maintaining ?95% of maximum yields. While these savings in N fertilizer use were modest at the field scale, they were potentially important when aggregated at the regional level.

Dataset Information

Nitrogen fluxes at the root-soil interface show a mismatch of nitrogen fertilizer supply and sugarcane root uptake capacity.

Publications

Nitrogen fluxes at the root-soil interface show a mismatch of nitrogen fertilizer supply and sugarcane root uptake capacity.

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