TY - JOUR
T1 - Crop nitrogen status and yield formation
T2 - A cross-species comparison for maize, rice, and wheat field crops
AU - Rodriguez, Ignacio M.
AU - Lacasa, Josefina
AU - Lemaire, Gilles
AU - Zhao, Ben
AU - Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir
AU - Ciampitti, Ignacio A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2024/8
Y1 - 2024/8
N2 - Problem: The utilization of crop nitrogen (N) status as an in-season diagnosis tool for predicting N needs to maximize grain yield (GY) is a well-established concept in agronomy. However, a cross-species comparison including the characterization of yield components, grain number (GN) and grain weight (GW), to understand the physiological basis behind the GY-crop N status relationship is still missing. Objective: The main goal of this study was to perform a cross-species comparison for maize (Zea mays L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) of the relationship between crop N status around anthesis as a GY and GY components prediction diagnosis method. Methods: A systematic literature search was carried out for these major field crops, the final dataset (comprising 629 observations) consisted of 15 publications including information on i) shoot biomass and plant N concentration or N nutrition index (NNI) values at anthesis, ii) GY, and iii) GN and/or GW. An analysis was conducted to assess the sensitivity (slope of the linear models) of GY, GN, and GW to changes in crop NNI status at anthesis. Results: Notably, the crop N status at anthesis demonstrated a strong relationship between both GY (R2 between 0.66 and 0.93) and GN (R2 between 0.58 and 0.94) across all crops, with a slightly weaker relationship with GW (R2 between 0.30 and 0.83). Considerable uncertainty was observed on the GY and GN sensitivity (S) to N deficiency across all crops. Maize showed the greatest sensitivity of GY to NNI (S= 964 g m−2), with lowest sensitivity for wheat crop (S= 496 g m−2). Regarding GN, rice showed the greatest sensitivity to NNI (S= 23859 GN m−2), whereas maize was less sensitive (S= 2673 GN m−2). While maize exhibited a positive association between NNI and GW (although with considerable uncertainty), this relationship was less evident for rice and wheat crops. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that crop N status at anthesis is a better predictor of GY and GN than GW in maize, rice, and wheat. Maize showed the greatest range in observed values for relative GW relative to NNI, highlighting the impact of crop N status on GW determination. Implications: These findings contribute to improving the understanding of the importance of achieving adequate crop N status at anthesis as key aspect for yield formation, with implications for both breeding programs and the optimization of on-farm crop N management.
AB - Problem: The utilization of crop nitrogen (N) status as an in-season diagnosis tool for predicting N needs to maximize grain yield (GY) is a well-established concept in agronomy. However, a cross-species comparison including the characterization of yield components, grain number (GN) and grain weight (GW), to understand the physiological basis behind the GY-crop N status relationship is still missing. Objective: The main goal of this study was to perform a cross-species comparison for maize (Zea mays L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) of the relationship between crop N status around anthesis as a GY and GY components prediction diagnosis method. Methods: A systematic literature search was carried out for these major field crops, the final dataset (comprising 629 observations) consisted of 15 publications including information on i) shoot biomass and plant N concentration or N nutrition index (NNI) values at anthesis, ii) GY, and iii) GN and/or GW. An analysis was conducted to assess the sensitivity (slope of the linear models) of GY, GN, and GW to changes in crop NNI status at anthesis. Results: Notably, the crop N status at anthesis demonstrated a strong relationship between both GY (R2 between 0.66 and 0.93) and GN (R2 between 0.58 and 0.94) across all crops, with a slightly weaker relationship with GW (R2 between 0.30 and 0.83). Considerable uncertainty was observed on the GY and GN sensitivity (S) to N deficiency across all crops. Maize showed the greatest sensitivity of GY to NNI (S= 964 g m−2), with lowest sensitivity for wheat crop (S= 496 g m−2). Regarding GN, rice showed the greatest sensitivity to NNI (S= 23859 GN m−2), whereas maize was less sensitive (S= 2673 GN m−2). While maize exhibited a positive association between NNI and GW (although with considerable uncertainty), this relationship was less evident for rice and wheat crops. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that crop N status at anthesis is a better predictor of GY and GN than GW in maize, rice, and wheat. Maize showed the greatest range in observed values for relative GW relative to NNI, highlighting the impact of crop N status on GW determination. Implications: These findings contribute to improving the understanding of the importance of achieving adequate crop N status at anthesis as key aspect for yield formation, with implications for both breeding programs and the optimization of on-farm crop N management.
KW - Critical nitrogen concentration
KW - Crops
KW - Grain number
KW - Grain weight
KW - Grain yield
KW - Nitrogen dilution
KW - NNI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85199952406&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.fcr.2024.109515
DO - 10.1016/j.fcr.2024.109515
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85199952406
SN - 0378-4290
VL - 316
JO - Field Crops Research
JF - Field Crops Research
M1 - 109515
ER -