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Global nitrogen budgets in cereals: A 50-year assessment for maize, rice, and wheat production systems.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Ladha, JK; Tirol-Padre, A; Reddy, CK; Cassman, KG; Verma, S; Powlson, DS; van Kessel, C; de B Richter, D; Chakraborty, D; Pathak, H
Published in: Scientific reports
January 2016

Industrially produced N-fertilizer is essential to the production of cereals that supports current and projected human populations. We constructed a top-down global N budget for maize, rice, and wheat for a 50-year period (1961 to 2010). Cereals harvested a total of 1551 Tg of N, of which 48% was supplied through fertilizer-N and 4% came from net soil depletion. An estimated 48% (737 Tg) of crop N, equal to 29, 38, and 25 kg ha(-1) yr(-1) for maize, rice, and wheat, respectively, is contributed by sources other than fertilizer- or soil-N. Non-symbiotic N2 fixation appears to be the major source of this N, which is 370 Tg or 24% of total N in the crop, corresponding to 13, 22, and 13 kg ha(-1) yr(-1) for maize, rice, and wheat, respectively. Manure (217 Tg or 14%) and atmospheric deposition (96 Tg or 6%) are the other sources of N. Crop residues and seed contribute marginally. Our scaling-down approach to estimate the contribution of non-symbiotic N2 fixation is robust because it focuses on global quantities of N in sources and sinks that are easier to estimate, in contrast to estimating N losses per se, because losses are highly soil-, climate-, and crop-specific.

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Published In

Scientific reports

DOI

EISSN

2045-2322

ISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

January 2016

Volume

6

Start / End Page

19355

Related Subject Headings

  • Zea mays
  • Triticum
  • Oryza
  • Nitrogen
  • Humans
  • History, 21st Century
  • History, 20th Century
  • Fertilizers
  • Edible Grain
  • Crop Production
 

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Ladha, J. K., Tirol-Padre, A., Reddy, C. K., Cassman, K. G., Verma, S., Powlson, D. S., … Pathak, H. (2016). Global nitrogen budgets in cereals: A 50-year assessment for maize, rice, and wheat production systems. Scientific Reports, 6, 19355. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19355
Ladha, J. K., A. Tirol-Padre, C. K. Reddy, K. G. Cassman, Sudhir Verma, D. S. Powlson, C. van Kessel, Daniel de B Richter, Debashis Chakraborty, and Himanshu Pathak. “Global nitrogen budgets in cereals: A 50-year assessment for maize, rice, and wheat production systems.Scientific Reports 6 (January 2016): 19355. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19355.
Ladha JK, Tirol-Padre A, Reddy CK, Cassman KG, Verma S, Powlson DS, et al. Global nitrogen budgets in cereals: A 50-year assessment for maize, rice, and wheat production systems. Scientific reports. 2016 Jan;6:19355.
Ladha, J. K., et al. “Global nitrogen budgets in cereals: A 50-year assessment for maize, rice, and wheat production systems.Scientific Reports, vol. 6, Jan. 2016, p. 19355. Epmc, doi:10.1038/srep19355.
Ladha JK, Tirol-Padre A, Reddy CK, Cassman KG, Verma S, Powlson DS, van Kessel C, de B Richter D, Chakraborty D, Pathak H. Global nitrogen budgets in cereals: A 50-year assessment for maize, rice, and wheat production systems. Scientific reports. 2016 Jan;6:19355.

Published In

Scientific reports

DOI

EISSN

2045-2322

ISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

January 2016

Volume

6

Start / End Page

19355

Related Subject Headings

  • Zea mays
  • Triticum
  • Oryza
  • Nitrogen
  • Humans
  • History, 21st Century
  • History, 20th Century
  • Fertilizers
  • Edible Grain
  • Crop Production