CC199 Fall Potato Production Guide for Western Nebraska

EC199 discusses fall potato production quide for western Nebraska

CC199 Fall Potato Production Guide for Western Nebraska

EC199 discusses fall potato production quide for western Nebraska

Impact hotspots of reduced nutrient discharge shift across the globe with population and dietary changes

This is the final version. Available from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordReducing nutrient discharge from wastewater is essential to mitigating aquatic eutrophication; however, energy- and chemicals-intensive nutrient removal processes, accompanied with the emissions of airborne contaminants, can create other, unexpected, environmental consequences. Implementing mitigation strategies requires a complete understanding of the effects of nutrient control practices, given spatial and temporal variations. Here we simulate the environmental impacts of reducing nutrient discharge from domestic wastewater in 173 countries during 1990–2050. We find that improvements in wastewater infrastructure achieve a large-scale decline in nutrient input to surface waters, but this is causing detrimental effects on the atmosphere and the broader environment. Population size and dietary protein intake have the most significant effects over all the impacts arising from reduction of wastewater nutrients. Wastewater-related impact hotspots are also shifting from Asia to Africa, suggesting a need for interventions in such countries, mostly with growing populations, rising dietary intake, rapid urbanisation, and inadequate sanitation.Beijing Nova ProgramBeijing Talents FoundationNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaYouth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of SciencesK. C. Wong Education Foundatio

Winter wheat roots grow twice as deep as spring wheat roots, is this important for N uptake and N leaching losses?

Cropping systems comprising winter catch crops followed by spring wheat could reduce N leaching risks compared to traditional winter wheat systems in humid climates. We studied the soil mineral N (Ninorg) and root growth of winter- and spring wheat to 2.5 m depth during three years. Root depth of winter wheat (2.2 m) was twice that of spring wheat, and this was related to much lower amounts of Ninorg in the 1 to 2.5 m layer after winter wheat (81 kg Ninorg ha-1 less). When growing winter catch crops before spring wheat, N content in the 1 to 2.5 m layer after spring wheat was not different from that after winter wheat. The results suggest that by virtue of its deep rooting, winter wheat may not lead to high levels of leaching as it is often assumed in humid climates. Deep soil and root measurements (below 1 m) in this experiment were essential to answer the questions we posed

Network resilience of phosphorus cycling in China has shifted by natural flows, fertilizer use and dietary transitions between 1600 and 2012

The resilience of the phosphorus (P) cycling network is critical to ecosystem functioning and human activities. Although P cycling pathways have been previously mapped, a knowledge gap remains in evaluating the P network’s ability to withstand shocks or disturbances. Applying principles of mass balance and ecological network analysis, we examine the network resilience of P cycling in China from 1600 to 2012. The results show that changes in network resilience have shifted from being driven by natural P flows for food production to being driven by industrial P flows for chemical fertilizer production. Urbanization has intensified the one-way journey of P, further deteriorating network resilience. Over 2000–2012, the network resilience of P cycling has decreased by 11% owing to dietary changes towards more animal-based foods. A trade-off between network resilience improvement and increasing food trade is also observed. These findings can support policy decisions for enhanced P cycling network resilience in China

Responsive in-season nitrogen management for cereals

Current nitrogen (N) management strategies for worldwide cereal production systems are characterized by low N use efficiency (NUE), environmental contamination, and considerable ongoing debate regarding what can be done to improve N fertilizer management. Development of innovative strategies that improve NUE and minimize off-field losses is crucial to sustaining cereal-based farming. In this paper, we review the major managerial causes for low NUE, including (1) poor synchrony between fertilizer N and crop demand, (2) uniform field applications to spatially variable landscapes that commonly vary in crop N need, and (3) failure to account for temporally variable influences on crop N needs. Poor synchronization is mainly due to large pre-plant applications of fertilizer N, resulting in high levels of inorganic soil N long before rapid crop uptake occurs. Uniform applications within fields discount the fact that N supplies from the soil, crop N uptake, and crop response are spatially variable. Current N management decisions also overlook year-to-year weather variations and sometimes fail to account for soil N mineralized in warm, wet years, ignoring indigenous N supply. The key to optimizing tradeoffs amongst yield, profit, and environmental protection is to achieve synchrony between N supply and crop demand, while accounting for spatial and temporal variability in soil N. While some have advocated a soil-based management zones (MZ) approach as a means to direct variable N applications and improve NUE, this method disregards yearly variation in weather. Thus, it seems unlikely that the soil-based MZ concept alone will be adequate for variable application of crop N inputs. Alternatively, we propose utilizing emerging computer and electronic technologies that focus on the plant to assess N status and direct in-season spatially variable N applications. Several of these technologies are reviewed and discussed. One technology showing promise is ground-based active-light reflectance measurements converted to NDVI or other similar indices. Preliminary research shows this approach addresses the issue of spatial variability and is accomplished at a time within the growing season so that N inputs are synchronized to match crop N uptake. We suggest this approach may be improved by first delineating a field into MZ using soil or other field properties to modify the decision associated with ground-based reflectance sensing. While additional adaptive research is needed to refine these newer technologies and subsequent N management decisions, preliminary results are encouraging.We expect N use efficiency can be greatly enhanced using this plant-based responsive strategy for N management in cereals