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

Autor(en)
Richard Brackin, Torgny Nasholm, Nicole Robinson, Stephane Guillou, Kerry Vinall, Prakash Lakshmanan, Susanne Schmidt, Erich Inselsbacher
Abstrakt

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.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Geographie und Regionalforschung
Externe Organisation(en)
University of Queensland, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sugar Research Australia
Journal
Scientific Reports
Band
5
Anzahl der Seiten
9
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15727
Publikationsdatum
10-2015
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
106026 Ökosystemforschung, 106031 Pflanzenphysiologie, 401101 Ackerbau
Schlagwörter
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 2 – Kein Hunger, SDG 15 – Leben an Land
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/nitrogen-fluxes-at-the-rootsoil-interface-show-a-mismatch-of-nitrogen-fertilizer-supply-and-sugarcane-root-uptake-capacity(18e45ff9-6a16-4b7e-b2a9-fd4b1389612d).html