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Long Term Trends in Agronomical and Environmental Performances of World Cropping Systems: The Relationship Between Yield and Nitrogen Input to Cropland at the Country and Regional Scales

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Just Enough Nitrogen

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is one of the main production factors in agricultural systems and has to be properly managed to sustain crop yields. Nowadays more than half of the N added to cropland is lost to the environment, wasting the resource, producing threats to air, water, soil and biodiversity, and generating greenhouse gas emissions. Based on FAO data of the past ~ 50 years (1961–2009 period), we have reconstructed the trajectory followed by 124 countries in terms of crop yield (expressed in nitrogen) and total nitrogen inputs to cropland (synthetic fertilizer, manure, symbiotic fixation and atmospheric deposition). During the past five decades the response of cropping systems to increased nitrogen fertilization has evolved differently between world countries. While some countries have improved their agro-environmental performances, in others the increased fertilization has produced low agronomical benefits and higher environmental losses. Despite very significant improvements in N use efficiency in several countries, N losses above recommendable levels are still frequently observed. Our data also suggests that, in general, those countries using a higher proportion of N inputs from symbiotic N fixation rather than from synthetic fertilizer have a better N use efficiency. By evidencing the long-term response of N inputs to the soil in terms of production and potential losses to the environment, this chapter provides a summarised and comprehensive diagnosis of the effective changes in agronomical and environmental performances of the cropping systems of 124 countries, as well as of the corresponding aggregated values for 12 macro-regions of the world.

This chapter is an abridged version of Lassaletta et al. (2014a)(https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/9/10/105011), 50 year trends in nitrogen use efficiency of world cropping systems: the relationship between yield and nitrogen input to cropland , Environmental Research Letters, 9(10), 105011, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/10/105011, re-used here in modified form with the permission of IOP Publishing Ltd. under Creative Commons license CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). The paper has been shortened and edited, the literature updated, and includes the addition of some new sentences and a new figure (Fig. 2.6). It is complemented with new regional results of Lassaletta et al. (2016), (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095007) Nitrogen use in the global food system: past trends and future trajectories of agronomic performance, pollution, trade, and dietary demand, Environmental Research Letters, 11(9), 095007, doi:0.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095007 (under Creative Commons license CC BY 3.0, (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0).

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  1. 1.

    http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/9/10/105011/media/erl502906suppdata2annex.pdf.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partly supported by the SeasERA EMoSEM project (ANR-12-SEAS-0005–01). We wish to thank the FIRE (Fédération Ile de France de Recherche environnement, CNRS and UPMC). We thank Javier Castrillo who developed several computer routines for the data management and Angel Udias for his help in preparing the figures. This chapter is an edited version of Lassaletta et al. (2014a), Environmental Research Letters, 9(10), 105011, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/10/105011, re-used here in modified form with the permission of IOP Publishing Ltd. under Creative Commons license CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) and complemented with new regional results of Lassaletta et al. (2016), Environmental Research Letters, 11(9), 095007, doi:0.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095007 under Creative Commons licence CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). The paper has been shortened and edited, the literature updated, and includes the addition of some new sentences and a new figure (Fig. 2.6).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sorbonne Université, CNRS, EPHE, UMR 7619 Metis, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    Luis Lassaletta, Gilles Billen, Bruna Grizzetti, Juliette Anglade & Josette Garnier

  2. CEIGRAM/Department of Agricultural Production, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, 28040, Spain

    Luis Lassaletta

  3. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy

    Bruna Grizzetti

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  1. Luis Lassaletta
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  2. Gilles Billen
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  3. Bruna Grizzetti
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  4. Juliette Anglade
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  5. Josette Garnier
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Correspondence to Luis Lassaletta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Edinburgh Research Station, Penicuik, Midlothian, UK

    Mark A. Sutton

  2. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Edinburgh Research Station, Penicuik, Midlothian, UK

    Kate E. Mason

  3. National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Albert Bleeker

  4. Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK

    W. Kevin Hicks

  5. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Yaoundé Research Station, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Cargele Masso

  6. University School of Biotechnology, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, India

    N. Raghuram

  7. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Edinburgh Research Station, Penicuik, Midlothian, UK

    Stefan Reis

  8. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Arusha, Tanzania

    Mateete Bekunda

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Lassaletta, L., Billen, G., Grizzetti, B., Anglade, J., Garnier, J. (2020). Long Term Trends in Agronomical and Environmental Performances of World Cropping Systems: The Relationship Between Yield and Nitrogen Input to Cropland at the Country and Regional Scales. In: Sutton, M.A., et al. Just Enough Nitrogen. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58065-0_2

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