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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2018

Ecosystem C and N dynamics affected by a modified spring barley trait with increased nitrogen use - a simulation case study

Eckersten, Henrik; Marstorp, Hakan; Collentine, Dennis; Johnsson, Holger; Katterer, Thomas

Abstract

To what extent might a crop with increased plant N uptake efficiency and/or N demand increase plant biomass and soil carbon storage, decrease N leaching, and reduce the need for N fertilisation? This was assessed for a fertilised sandy loam site in central Sweden cultivated with spring barley for a four year period using a process based crop and soil simulation model (SOILN) calibrated to fit observations of field experiments with non-modified crops. Crop properties were changed in accordance with previous model applications to other crops with higher N uptake and utilisation efficiencies, to resemble potential effects of breeding. For the modified crops a doubling of daily uptake efficiency of soil mineral N and/or increase of radiation use efficiency by 30%, increased plant biomass by 3%-30%, decreased N leaching by 1%-30% and increased soil organic carbon (SOC) content by 1-12 g C m(-2) year(-1). The larger changes were mainly due to increased uptake efficiency. Fertilisation of the modified spring barley crop could be reduced while still producing the same plant biomass as the non-modified crop. The plant biomass to N leaching ratio of the modified crops increased. The simulated changes in plant biomass and SOC were sensitive to weather conditions suggesting that in situ experiments would need to cover a large range of weather conditions to evaluate the performance of new crop traits under climatic variability. The study suggests a strong need that field experiments are accompanied with model applications, when exploring the potential of the modified crops under variable conditions.

Keywords

Plant breeding; N uptake; N utilisation; N leaching; SOC; sandy loam; Sweden

Published in

Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B - Soil and Plant Science
2018, volume: 68, number: 3, pages: 230-242
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS AS

Authors' information

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Crop Production Ecology
Marstorp, Håkan
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Soil and Environment
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Soil and Environment
University of Gävle
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Soil and Environment
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Soil Science

Publication Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09064710.2017.1385835

URI (permanent link to this page)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/94663