European Journal of Agronomy最新文献

{"title":"Modeling carbon allocation strategies for high-yielding perennial crops","authors":"Erin Kilbane ,&nbsp;Timothy Crews ,&nbsp;Lee DeHaan ,&nbsp;Michael Grillo ,&nbsp;Brian Ohsowski ,&nbsp;Ray Dybzinski","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127559","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127559","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We constructed a generalizable grassland model of within-plant carbon allocation strategies with the objective of furthering understanding of the evolutionary ecology of perenniality and illuminating possibilities for breeding high-yielding, long-lived crops in the service of regenerative agriculture. The grassland Perfect Plasticity Approximation model handles space-filling, recruitment, and carbon balance to determine the within-plant allocation of carbon given trade-offs involving perenniality. We used our model to conduct (1) a game-theoretic analysis of evolutionarily stable strategies to determine the effects of natural selection on perenniality and annual reproductive yield, and (2) analyses of physiological feasibility and sensitivity to determine the range of allocational strategies that might be achievable through breeding. Model results suggest that natural selection already maximizes annual reproductive yield in plants that have adapted to the evolutionarily stable strategy in the context of constraints of carbon allocation to foliage, roots, stems, and growth, leaving little room for yield improvement without also breeding a reduction in carbon allocation elsewhere. Breeding reductions in stem mass and root mass show promise for increasing annual reproductive yield. Further research is needed, however, to understand how reductions in root or stem mass would affect a perennial’s provisioning of ecosystem services.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"166 ","pages":"Article 127559"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143529730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing potato leaf protein content, carbon-based constituents, and leaf area index monitoring using radiative transfer model and deep learning","authors":"Haikuan Feng ,&nbsp;Yiguang Fan ,&nbsp;Jibo Yue ,&nbsp;Yanpeng Ma ,&nbsp;Yang Liu ,&nbsp;Riqiang Chen ,&nbsp;Yuanyuan Fu ,&nbsp;Xiuliang Jin ,&nbsp;Mingbo Bian ,&nbsp;Jiejie Fan ,&nbsp;Yu Zhao ,&nbsp;Mengdie Leng ,&nbsp;Guijun Yang ,&nbsp;Chunjiang Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127580","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127580","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Accurate determination of potato leaf protein content (Cp), carbon-based constituents (CBC), and leaf area index (LAI) are crucial for precise monitoring of potato growth. Dynamic monitoring of leaf Cp, CBC, and LAI can provide valuable insights for agricultural management, such as analyzing the impact of environment stress factors on potato growth throughout its lifecycle. Currently, the most commonly used method for estimating crop parameters is the vegetation spectral feature-statistical regression approach. However, leaf Cp and CBC estimation are greatly influenced by water absorptions, as they exhibited overlapping spectral features in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) region. Consequently, the accuracy of protein estimation using traditional vegetation spectral feature-statistical regression methods is limited. This study aims to propose a comprehensive approach called PCPNet (Potato Canopy and Leaf Parameter Network), which could jointly estimate potato canopy and leaf parameters including Cp, CBC, and LAI. The performance of the PCPNet was compared with traditional spectral feature-statistical regression methods in estimating Cp, CBC and LAI. A simulated dataset for pre-training was generated using the PROSPECT-PRO and SAIL radiative transfer models to represent various complex scenarios encountered in real-world potato cultivation practices. The designed PCPNet was initially pre-trained based on this simulated dataset and then re-trained using ground-based measurements from five potato growing seasons across two distinct regions in China through transfer learning techniques. The validation of potato canopy and leaf parameters was conducted based on the estimations provided by the PCPNet model, while assessing their accuracy. This study yields the following results: (1) The PCPNet-based deep learning model demonstrated markedly superior accuracy in estimating potato Cp, CBC, and LAI compared to traditional machine learning models. (2) The deep learning model pretrained with transfer learning exhibited greater estimation accuracy than the deep learning model trained from scratch. In future research, experiments should be conducted across multiple regions and crops to verify both accuracy and generalizability of this approach in remote sensing of leaf Cp, CBC, and LAI.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"166 ","pages":"Article 127580"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143527153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Complexity and interactions of climatic variables affecting winter wheat photosynthesis in the North China Plain","authors":"Rongjun Wu ,&nbsp;Xinzhi Shen ,&nbsp;Bo Shang ,&nbsp;Jiacheng Zhao ,&nbsp;Evgenios Agathokleous ,&nbsp;Zhaozhong Feng","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127568","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127568","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Investigating the impact of climate change on crop photosynthesis is crucial for evaluating yield loss and ensuring food security. While previous studies have explored the effects of temperature, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and soil moisture (SM) on crop photosynthesis in specific locations or ecosystems, large-scale analyses remain limited. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the sensitivities and contributions of temperature, VPD, plant available water (PAW), and other climatic factors to winter wheat photosynthesis in the North China Plain (NCP) from 2001 to 2019, utilizing remotely sensed solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) data. Our findings indicate a significant increase in SIF during both the vegetative growth period (VGP) and reproductive growth period (RGP), with trends in climatic factors influencing SIF over the past two decades. The sensitivity of SIF to temperature, VPD, and PAW was more pronounced during the VGP compared to the RGP, suggesting that climatic variability has a greater impact on photosynthesis prior to the heading stage of winter wheat. VPD emerged as a major negative contributor to SIF variation in both periods, followed by temperature during the VGP and PAW during the RGP. Notably, when VPD dropped below the thresholds of 0.83 kPa during the VGP and 1.11 kPa during the RGP, the sensitivity of photosynthetic capacity significantly decreased. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that the negative indirect effects of temperature on SIF through VPD counterbalanced its positive direct effects, while the positive indirect effects of PAW via VPD enhanced its direct effects. Overall, the increase in VPD and the significant decrease in PAW had a substantial negative impact on winter wheat photosynthesis, particularly during the RGP in the NCP. These results offer a quantitative and comprehensive assessment of the influence of rising VPD on the photosynthetic capacity of winter wheat in the context of climate warming and diminishing SM, while also highlighting the significance of growth stage at the system scale for a more meaningful ecophysiological understanding.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"166 ","pages":"Article 127568"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143520280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Surface runoff influenced by single and consortia of cover crops in southern Brazil","authors":"Lucas Raimundo Rauber ,&nbsp;Dalvan José Reinert ,&nbsp;Paulo Ivonir Gubiani ,&nbsp;Rutineia Tassi","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127567","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127567","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cover crops (CCs) are essential for mitigating surface runoff and water erosion. This study reports whether different single and consortia of CCs differ in the attenuation of surface runoff in no-till areas in southern Brazil. The experiment was conducted on a Psammentic Paleudult soil using 14.5 × 3 m plots, with six treatments: T1- bare soil (control) (BS); T2- permanent grasses (PG); T3- black oat and forage turnip followed by beans or cowpea (O+T-B/C); T4- ryegrass followed by beans or pigeon pea (R-B/P); T5- black oat and vetch followed by beans or cowpea (O+V-B/C); and T6- forage peanut (FP). After six years of experimentation (medium term), continuous monitoring of surface runoff in 2022 showed that CCs treatments reduce by up to 65 % the number of precipitation events in which surface runoff occurs, delay the onset of surface runoff, attenuate the rise and peak of the hydrograph, and decrease by up to 97 % the annual surface runoff depth compared to BS treatment. The treatment with FP most efficiently attenuated the surface runoff. Treatments with succession or diversification of annual CCs (O+T-B/C, R-B/P, O+V-B/C) showed similar efficiency to FP. Treatment with PG was the least effective in controlling surface runoff. In conclusion, different single and consortium of CCs vary in their ability to attenuate surface runoff in no-till areas in southern Brazil. Increasing live plant biomass input and the spatial and temporal diversification of CCs, especially legumes, are key factors in maximizing the control of surface runoff in no-till areas. Integral control of surface runoff, however, requires complementary measures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"166 ","pages":"Article 127567"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143508327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Growing under photoselective nets affects the gas exchange and chemical composition of the leaves of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) before and after harvest","authors":"Tina Smrke ,&nbsp;Helena Sircelj ,&nbsp;Ziga Laznik ,&nbsp;Robert Veberic ,&nbsp;Mariana Cecilia Grohar ,&nbsp;Jerneja Jakopic","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127565","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127565","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The use of photoselective nets in highbush blueberry (<em>Vaccinium corymbosum</em> L.) orchards could affect the light properties below the nets, along with the plants’ physiological processes and the chemical composition of their leaves. In our research, we compared the effects of black, red, yellow, and white exclusion nets with full-sun conditions (control) on light quality and quantity and the performance of blueberry ‘Bluecrop’ leaves over two consecutive years. The light properties were found to be altered by the nets. The net photosynthesis and leaf gas exchange did not differ among the treatments in 2022. In 2023, the lowest net photosynthesis was measured in the leaves of plants under the control treatment (7.08 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹) before harvest and under the black (3.01 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹) and red nets (3.36 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹) after harvest. At the same time, plants without fruit exhibited significantly lower values of carbon assimilation. The highest chlorophyll fluorescence value was measured in the plants under the red net (0.59) before harvest and under the white exclusion net (0.40) after harvest. Among the measured chloroplast pigments, zeaxanthin increased under the yellow net and the control treatment in 2022, while in 2023, it increased under the red net, white exclusion net, and control treatment before harvest. The total phenolics differed significantly among the treatments across all three sampling dates, with the highest contents measured before harvest in 2023. These promising results indicate that other blueberry cultivars and colored photoselective nets should also be examined in future experiments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"166 ","pages":"Article 127565"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143487430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of different pipe burial depths on crop yield, water productivity, and irrigation water productivity: A global meta–analysis","authors":"Fan Zhang ,&nbsp;Xiukang Wang ,&nbsp;Shiju Liu ,&nbsp;Hao Ren ,&nbsp;Yandong Wang ,&nbsp;Juan Han","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127562","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127562","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Subsurface drip irrigation (SSDI) is an efficient water-saving irrigation technology based on burying drip irrigation pipes underground to deliver water and nutrients directly to crop roots, thereby minimizing water evaporation and nutrient losses. Nevertheless, the effects of SSDI on the crop yield, water productivity (WP), and irrigation water productivity (IWP) have not been fully evaluated, and thus the optimal pipe burial depth for different crops, remains unclear. To address this issue, we performed a global meta-analysis by utilizing 1155 pairs of observations from 145 studies to quantify the effects of different pipe burial depths (&lt; 15 cm, 15–30 cm, and 30–45 cm) on the crop yield, WP, and IWP. Furthermore, we aimed to identify the key factors related to the effects of SSDI on yield increases and water saving. SSDI had significant advantages compared with surface drip irrigation in terms of the crop yield, WP, and IWP, where the optimal performance was obtained at a depth of 30–45 cm (yield increase of 12.30 %, WP increase of 15.26 %, and IWP increase of 18.65 %). SSDI at a depth of 30–45 cm was more favorable for solanaceous vegetables, whereas a depth of 15–30 cm was more suitable for legume crops. Furthermore, field management factors had crucial effects on yield increases and water conservation. An emitter discharge rate of 2.5–3.5 L h^–1 and spacing of 25–35 cm were more favorable for crop growth. In addition, under SSDI conditions, low fertilizer application rates (150 kg ha^–1 N, 50 kg ha^–1 P, and 100–200 kg ha^–1 K) were generally sufficient to achieve the goal of high yields and water savings across different crops, and the effect was particularly pronounced in alkaline (pH ≥ 8), loose (soil bulk density &lt; 1.45 g cm^–3), and nutrient-poor (soil organic matter &lt; 10 g kg^–1) clay soils at 30–45 cm depth. Moreover, the effects of increasing yields and saving water at different pipe burial depths were dramatically affected by climatic factors, with the optimal effect was achieved with precipitation of 400–600 mm and temperatures of 10–15°C at 30–45 cm depth. Our results confirm that SSDI has significant potential for increasing yields and saving water, as well as providing a scientific basis for determining the optimal pipe burial depth for different crop types.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"166 ","pages":"Article 127562"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143474800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Projected climate change impacts on Potato yield in East Africa","authors":"Thomas Kirina ,&nbsp;Iwan Supit ,&nbsp;Annemarie Groot ,&nbsp;Fulco Ludwig ,&nbsp;Teferi Demissie","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127560","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127560","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the impacts of climate change on potato production in East Africa. To assess these impacts, we utilised the WOFOST crop model to simulate both potential yield (Yp) and water-limited yield (Yw) for the present-day (1981–2010), near-future (2036–2065), and far-future (2066–2100) under two climate scenarios (SSP3.7 and SSP5–8.5), using a five-member General Circulation Model (GCM) ensemble from the ISIMIP project. The simulations consistently reveal a substantial decline in both Yp and Yw across all future periods. Specifically, without CO₂ fertilisation, potential yields are projected to decrease by 37–71 %, and water-limited yields by 25–57 % during the Long Rain season (LRS), while during the Short Rain Season(SRS), these declines range from 39–75 % for potential yields and 32–60 % for water-limited yields, with variations depending on elevation and scenario. Even when accounting for elevated CO₂ levels, Yp still decline by 23–57 %, and Yw by 20–49 % in LRS, and by 21–60 % and 20–48 % in SRS. Furthermore, the projected decline in land suitability for potato cultivation is stark, with 82 % of land becoming unsuitable by 2050 and 89 % by 2080, particularly during the LRS. Although elevated CO₂ and slight increases in rainfall may provide some limited benefits, these are insufficient to counteract the detrimental effects of rising temperatures, which remain the primary constraint on potato productivity. Consequently, these findings suggest that conventional potato cultivation may become unsustainable by the end of the century due to climate change. The study underscores the pressing need for effective adaptation strategies, including the implementation of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices, to sustain potato production in the medium term. It further highlights the potential necessity of transitioning to alternative crops in regions that may become unsuitable for potatoes under future climate conditions. By offering region-specific insights based on relatively high-resolution CMIP6 data and the WOFOST crop model, this research provides actionable guidance for the development of adaptation strategies, reinforcing the importance of integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation into agricultural planning to ensure food security and protect rural livelihoods in East Africa.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"166 ","pages":"Article 127560"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143464742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Increasing nitrogen cycling in deciduous fruit orchards and vineyards to enhance N use efficiency and reduce N losses – A review","authors":"Massimo Tagliavini,&nbsp;Dolores Asensio,&nbsp;Carlo Andreotti","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127561","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127561","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The environmental goals of current agricultural policies in several countries emphasize the need to find strategies for reconciling productivity and fruit quality with the goal of minimizing nitrogen losses in orchards and vineyards. Management techniques that reduce losses involve precisely matching N needs with soil N availability, efficient supply methods and suitable forms of N fertilizer. Moreover, plant N uptake plays an important role, as it removes active N forms from the soil that could fuel N losses. This review, focusing on deciduous fruit trees and grapevines, first frames the issue of N losses in these cropping systems within the context of the nitrogen availability, then focuses on the N cycle both at tree and at ecosystem level. We provide examples of how this knowledge could lead to reduced risk of N losses and enhanced fertilizer nitrogen use efficiency (FNUE). Studies into tree internal N cycling have allowed significant improvement in the optimal timing of fertilizer N supply. Nitrogen cycling at orchard level involves bidirectional transfer of significant amounts of N between the soil, on the one hand, and trees and herbaceous vegetation, on the other. This review proposes a paradigm shift in the way that N use efficiency in orchards and vineyards is considered, whereby the primary goal becomes enhancing the residence time of the N in the system. Under the best-case scenario, most of the soil and fertilizer N should be forced to cycle within the tree or between the vegetation (trees and the herbaceous plants) and the soil. Reaching this goal under different growing conditions and precipitation regimes represents a challenge for both the scientific community and extension services, as well as one of the priorities for an agroecological approach to the N nutrition of grapevines and various deciduous fruit trees species, with special reference to the temperate growing regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"167 ","pages":"Article 127561"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143455072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating the impact of biostimulants at variable nitrogen rates in corn production","authors":"Praveen Gajula ,&nbsp;Jagmandeep Dhillon ,&nbsp;Ramandeep Kumar Sharma ,&nbsp;Corey Bryant ,&nbsp;Raju Bheemanahalli ,&nbsp;Vaughn Reed ,&nbsp;Erick Larson","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127554","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127554","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biostimulants have garnered significant interest due to their potential to enhance crop productivity while optimizing nitrogen (N) uptake and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). However, field research testing their efficacy in corn (<em>Zea mays.</em> L) production remains largely unexplored. Therefore, a field study was conducted in 2022 and 2023 in Mississippi (MS). A split plot design was implemented, with N rates as the main plot including 0 (control), 90, 180, 269 kg N ha⁻¹ at Starkville, while Stoneville included an additional rate of 224 kg N ha⁻¹. The subplot consisted of seven treatments, including a no biostimulant (check) and six microbial biostimulants (Source Corn®, Envita®, iNvigorate®, Blue N®, Micro AZ™, and Bio level phosN®) applied either as foliar at V4-V5 growth stages or in-furrow at planting. Nitrogen rates positively affected grain yield at all three site-years, whereas biostimulants effects on grain yield were only observed at one site (Stoneville 2022). Moreover, these differences only existed between six biostimulants and they were not significantly different from check plot with no biostimulant. Higher N rates reduced the efficiency of grain production in terms of NUE parameters and N uptake, showing a consistent inverse trend across all site years. This study observed minimal synergistic benefits of microbial biostimulants, despite evaluating their effectiveness alongside varied N rates. Further research testing diverse biostimulant categories with varied dosages and application timings is warranted to confirm their potential benefits for higher productivity and agricultural sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"167 ","pages":"Article 127554"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143455083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Root biomass plasticity in response to nitrogen fertilization and soil fertility in sugarcane cropping systems","authors":"Léa Chevalier ,&nbsp;Mathias Christina ,&nbsp;Marion Ramos ,&nbsp;Benjamin Heuclin ,&nbsp;Amélie Février ,&nbsp;Christophe Jourdan ,&nbsp;Daniel Poultney ,&nbsp;Antoine Versini","doi":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127549","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.eja.2025.127549","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil fertility is crucial for plant growth as it influences root development, nutrient uptake, and overall plant health. Optimizing fertilization practices is essential for productivity and sustainability in sugarcane (<em>Saccharum officinarum</em>) cropping systems, especially on Reunion Island, where soil types and climatic conditions vary. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of mineral nitrogen fertilization and soil fertility on sugarcane root development, with particular focus on root biomass production and distribution. The study was conducted across ten sites on Reunion Island, each site representative of one of five soil types in two distinct climatic zones. Using a mechanical auger, root biomass and distribution were measured in fertilized and unfertilized plots down to a depth of 50 cm and at three distances from the row of sugarcane at harvest. Root biomass varied markedly depending on the site: it ranged from 4 to 12 Mg ha⁻¹, corresponding to root-to-shoot ratios varying from 0.10 to 0.43. Root biomass increased by 15 % and root nitrogen concentration decreased by 9 % in unfertilized plots, while root nitrogen mass was not affected. Root biomass was influenced by chemical soil fertility and decreased with declining P availability. Chemical and physical soil properties also influenced the proportion of roots in the superficial soil layers. These findings underscore the plasticity of root biomass allocation in response to soil fertility and fertilization. Given the significant role of roots in soil carbon sequestration, understanding their dynamics is crucial for refining fertilization strategies and enhancing the sustainability of sugarcane cropping systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51045,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Agronomy","volume":"167 ","pages":"Article 127549"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143455071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}