How much can increasing soil organic carbon offset climate change?
Increasing the organic matter content of soil benefits both crop growth and climate change. About 50% of this so-called soil organic matter is made of carbon. Hence, the entire global soil organic matter stock contains about twice the amount of carbon as atmospheric carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, clearing natural vegetation to establish agriculture has led to […]
Financial incentives to solve agricultural nitrogen pollution
More than half of the world’s population is nourished by food produced with nitrogen from the Haber–Bosch process. Yet, the nitrogen is not used efficiently. The global social costs on ecosystems and the impact on human health originating from excessive nitrogen are estimated to be a magnitude higher than the fertilizer costs. A prominent example […]
Science losing its way: examples from the realm of microbial N2-fixation in cereals and other non-legumes
Microbial products that increase nutrient availability to crops have been of growing interest in recent years. Many products claim to increase the growth and yields of major crops by stimulating nitrogen fixation in soil. A team of international experts set out to review the available evidence on whether inoculating cereals and other non-legumes with free-living […]
Breeding for an elite malting barley cultivar with acid soil tolerance
Around one-third of the world’s soils with potential crop productivity suffer from acidity, further triggered by elevated global temperatures. Mostly distributed in subtropical and tropic areas, acid soils show low crop growth and productivity due to the deficiency of essential nutrients such as P, Ca, Mg and K or the presence of toxic metals such […]
World Soil Day 2024: Taking care of the soil takes care of planetary and human health
The soil, like air and water, plays a central role for life on Earth. It is the source of about 95% of our food and of many medicines. It also provides raw materials that we need for construction and clothing. Furthermore, the condition of the soil has a considerable effect on water quality. The relatively […]
Improving the nutritional quality of food crops with fertilizers
Fertilizer use is a major driver of crop yield. However, a comprehensive understanding of how fertilizers impact the nutritional quality of food crops has been lacking so far. In this first global meta-analysis, a large team of scientists compiled 7,859 data pairs from 551 field experiment-based articles published between 1972 and 2022. The goal was […]
The evolution of plant secondary metabolite research and its relevance for plant nutrition
Plant secondary metabolites have a rich historical significance as they play essential roles in influencing numerous mechanisms important for plant development, productivity, and health. The review by Dixon and Dickinson (2024) presents research about plant secondary metabolites from the last hundred years, connecting us to the legacy of scientific exploration. It discusses old approaches, recent […]
TRENDS IN THE NITROGEN BUDGET OF CANADIAN FARMLAND
Canada is renowned as a nation with vast areas of productive farmland. Over the past four decades, yields of major broad-acre crops like wheat, barley, canola, maize and soybeans have increased, and continue to do so. Supporting the progress in yield improvement for most of these crops has required greater inputs of nitrogen. But concerns […]
Enhancing nitrogen recovery efficiency in croplands through nutrient, crop and soil management practices
The recovery efficiency (RE) of crop nutrients is defined as the increase in nutrients in aboveground crop biomass per unit applied, after applying the nutrient in the form of fertilizer, manure, or another source. It is among the most critical indicators of fertilizer use efficiency because any applied nutrient not taken up by crops is […]
Combining AI tools with process-based models shows promise in predicting soil N2O emissions
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from soils results from microbial nitrification and denitrification processes and is regulated by environmental conditions. N2O emission is enhanced when there is a surplus of inorganic nitrogen in the soil, such as after applying nitrogen fertilizer. Various temporal and spatial conditions can lead to these microbial processes in soils and result […]
