Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture

Worldwide increases in nitrogen (N) inputs to croplands have been and will continue to be an important contributor to growing more food. But a substantial portion of N inputs to croplands are not captured in harvested products and leave the field, contributing to air and water pollution. Whether the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Conant, Richard T., Berdanier, A.B., Grace, P.R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Wiley 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/34468
_version_ 1855531698937135104
author Conant, Richard T.
Berdanier, A.B.
Grace, P.R.
author_browse Berdanier, A.B.
Conant, Richard T.
Grace, P.R.
author_facet Conant, Richard T.
Berdanier, A.B.
Grace, P.R.
author_sort Conant, Richard T.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Worldwide increases in nitrogen (N) inputs to croplands have been and will continue to be an important contributor to growing more food. But a substantial portion of N inputs to croplands are not captured in harvested products and leave the field, contributing to air and water pollution. Whether the proportion of N inputs captured in harvest grows, shrinks, or remains unchanged will have important impacts on both food production and N pollution. We created a new global N input database (fertilizer, manure, fixation, deposition, and residues) that enables evaluation of trends in nitrogen use and recovery by country and by crop from the 1960s through 2007. These data show that despite growth in yields and increased N fertilization, differences in efficiency of N use between Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; http://www.oecd.org) and other countries have persisted over nearly 50 years and exhibit no sign of convergence. The high yield, high nitrogen input systems characteristic of rich countries have released large amounts of reactive N to the environment but have operated with greater efficiency—recovering a greater portion of added N in crops. Aggregate yields in OECD countries are 70%greater than in non-OECD countries on N input rates just 54% greater. Variation in recovery efficiency between countries suggests that there is scope for improvements through enhanced N delivery and capture in the world’s low-yielding croplands and that increasing efficiency of N use is an important component of meeting food demand in the future.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace34468
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher Wiley
publisherStr Wiley
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace344682024-08-27T10:36:32Z Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture Conant, Richard T. Berdanier, A.B. Grace, P.R. agriculture environment Worldwide increases in nitrogen (N) inputs to croplands have been and will continue to be an important contributor to growing more food. But a substantial portion of N inputs to croplands are not captured in harvested products and leave the field, contributing to air and water pollution. Whether the proportion of N inputs captured in harvest grows, shrinks, or remains unchanged will have important impacts on both food production and N pollution. We created a new global N input database (fertilizer, manure, fixation, deposition, and residues) that enables evaluation of trends in nitrogen use and recovery by country and by crop from the 1960s through 2007. These data show that despite growth in yields and increased N fertilization, differences in efficiency of N use between Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; http://www.oecd.org) and other countries have persisted over nearly 50 years and exhibit no sign of convergence. The high yield, high nitrogen input systems characteristic of rich countries have released large amounts of reactive N to the environment but have operated with greater efficiency—recovering a greater portion of added N in crops. Aggregate yields in OECD countries are 70%greater than in non-OECD countries on N input rates just 54% greater. Variation in recovery efficiency between countries suggests that there is scope for improvements through enhanced N delivery and capture in the world’s low-yielding croplands and that increasing efficiency of N use is an important component of meeting food demand in the future. 2013-06 2014-02-02T09:41:08Z 2014-02-02T09:41:08Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/34468 en Limited Access Wiley Conant, R.T., Berdanier, A.B. and Grace, P.R. 2013. Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture. Global Biologeochemical Cycles 27(2): 558 - 566
spellingShingle agriculture
environment
Conant, Richard T.
Berdanier, A.B.
Grace, P.R.
Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture
title Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture
title_full Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture
title_fullStr Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture
title_full_unstemmed Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture
title_short Patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture
title_sort patterns and trends in nitrogen use and nitrogen recovery efficiency in world agriculture
topic agriculture
environment
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/34468
work_keys_str_mv AT conantrichardt patternsandtrendsinnitrogenuseandnitrogenrecoveryefficiencyinworldagriculture
AT berdanierab patternsandtrendsinnitrogenuseandnitrogenrecoveryefficiencyinworldagriculture
AT gracepr patternsandtrendsinnitrogenuseandnitrogenrecoveryefficiencyinworldagriculture