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Optical Sensors for Rational Fertilizer Nitrogen Management in Field Crops

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Input Use Efficiency for Food and Environmental Security

Abstract

Fertilizer nitrogen (N) is one of the most important nutrient inputs in global crop production. The general fertilizer N management practices in field crops consist of applying preset N doses at specified growth stages in multiple splits. Blanket or soil-test-based recommendations ignore temporal and spatial variability in soil N supply and crop demand for N and thus could not help improve N use efficiency beyond a certain limit. Synchronizing plant N demand and fertilizer N supply is a proven fertilizer management approach to improve N use efficiency. In-season plant growth comprehends the total N supply to plants from different sources, thus in-season plant N status and plant biomass could be a better indicator of the N availability to crops than soil testing. Optical sensors have emerged as efficient diagnostic tools for estimating crop N status and yield of the crops and thus help guide site-specific need-based fertilizer N topdressings. Relationships between spectral properties measured using optical sensors and plant N concentration, total N uptake, various agronomic and yield parameters of major field crops have been extensively studied. This chapter reviews the results of investigations carried out for assessing plant N status and developing rational fertilizer nitrogen management strategies using different kinds of optical sensors in wheat, rice, maize, and cotton.

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Abbreviations

CCCI:

Canopy chlorophyll content index

CI:

Chlorophyll index

CRI:

Crown root initiation

DAS:

Days after sowing

DDSR:

Dry direct-seeded rice

GC:

Ground cover

INSEY:

In-season estimation of yield

IR:

Infrared

IRVI:

Inverse ratio vegetation index

LAI:

Leaf area index

LCC:

Leaf color chart

LNA:

Leaf nitrogen accumulation

LNC:

Leaf nitrogen concentration

MT:

Maximum tillering

N:

Nitrogen

NDVI:

Normalized difference vegetation index

NIR:

Near-infrared

NUE:

Nitrogen use efficiency

RE:

Red edge

RI:

Response indices

RVI:

Ratio/red vegetation index

SA-NDVI:

Soil adjusted normalized difference vegetation index

SPAD:

Chlorophyll meter

TCC:

Total canopy chlorophyll

UAN:

Urea ammonium nitrate

URN:

Uniform rate of nitrogen

VI:

Vegetation index

Vis:

Visible

VRN:

Variable rate of nitrogen

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the funding by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India and Biotechnology and BBSRC under the international multi-institutional collaborative research project entitled Cambridge-India Network for Translational Research in Nitrogen (CINTRIN) for this work. (DBT Grant No.: BT/IN/UK-VNC/42/RG/2014-15; BBSRC Grant No.: BB/N013441/1). Support is also provided to V-S and ARB via the UK Global Challenges Research Fund project BB/T012412/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

    Varinderpal-Singh,  Kunal &  Bijay-Singh

  2. Director Global Wheat Program, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), El Batán, Mexico

    Alison R. Bentley

  3. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Howard Griffiths

  4. National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Cambridge, UK

    Tina Barsby

  5. Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary (SGT) University, Budhera, Gurugram, India

    Kunal

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  1. Varinderpal-Singh
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  5. Tina Barsby
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  6. Bijay-Singh
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Research Station, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

    Rajan Bhatt

  2. Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ram Swaroop Meena

  3. Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute, Dinajpur, Bangladesh

    Akbar Hossain

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Varinderpal-Singh, Kunal, Bentley, A.R., Griffiths, H., Barsby, T., Bijay-Singh (2021). Optical Sensors for Rational Fertilizer Nitrogen Management in Field Crops. In: Bhatt, R., Meena, R.S., Hossain, A. (eds) Input Use Efficiency for Food and Environmental Security. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5199-1_16

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