Sulfur fertilization improves nitrogen use efficiency in wheat by increasing nitrogen uptake

Sulfur fertilization improves nitrogen use efficiency in wheat by increasing nitrogen uptake

Nitrogen (N) fertilization plays a central role for improving yield in wheat and high N use efficiency (NUE) is desired to protect ground and surface waters. Several studies showed that sulfur (S) fertilization may increase NUE, but no attempts have been made to explain whether this increase is due...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Field crops research Vol. 113; no. 2; pp. 170 - 177
Main Authors: Salvagiotti, Fernando, Castellarín, Julio M., Miralles, Daniel J., Pedrol, Hugo M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier B.V 03-08-2009
[Amsterdam]: Elsevier
Subjects:
cultivars
field experimentation
leaching
nitrate nitrogen
Nitrogen
nitrogen fertilizers
Nitrogen harvest index
Nitrogen uptake
Nitrogen use efficiency
nutrient partitioning
nutrient uptake
nutrient use efficiency
nutrient-nutrient interactions
plant nutrition
Sulfur
sulfur fertilizers
Triticum aestivum
Wheat
Argentina
Argentina, Pampa
Nitrogen use efficiency
Nitrogen uptake
Sulfur
Nitrogen
Wheat
Nitrogen harvest index
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Summary:Nitrogen (N) fertilization plays a central role for improving yield in wheat and high N use efficiency (NUE) is desired to protect ground and surface waters. Several studies showed that sulfur (S) fertilization may increase NUE, but no attempts have been made to explain whether this increase is due to greater recovery efficiency (RE), an enhanced internal efficiency (IE) or by an improvement of both efficiencies. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of different N and S fertilizer rates, and their interaction on N uptake, its partition at maturity, NUE and its main components. Field experiments were carried out during two consecutive growing seasons in the Argentinean Pampas using a single bread-wheat genotype grown under different combinations of N and S fertilizer rates. Additional experiments were performed in farmer fields using N and S fertilization evaluating different genotypes in order to analyze the components of NUE in other environmental conditions. Plant N uptake increased linearly in response to N addition until rates of ca. 80 kg N ha −1. Sulfur addition showed no effect at the lowest N fertilizer rate, but N uptake was increased when S was applied at the highest N rate, revealing a synergism between both nutrients. At the lowest S rate RE was 42%, and increased to 70% when S fertilizer was added. No changes in IE in response to S fertilization were observed. These results were also observed in farmer field experiments, in genotypes that showed different IE. This study showed that S addition increased NUE mainly by increasing the N recovery from the soil. Thus, the concurrent management of N and S is important for reducing the potential pollution of residual soil nitrate by increasing N recovery from the soil while sustaining high nitrogen use efficiency.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2009.05.003
ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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content type line 23
ISSN:0378-4290
1872-6852
DOI:10.1016/j.fcr.2009.05.003