Abstract
In this paper we develop a model to quantify spatial variability in indigenous soil nutrient supply and assess the impact of this heterogeneity on fertilizer use efficiency with uniform or site-specific nutrient application. Utilizing field data for wheat and rice response to applied N and cotton response to applied K, the model predicts that the magnitude of the difference in the nutrient input requirement of a heterogeneous field for site-specific versus uniform nutrient application depends on (1) a curvilinear crop response to nutrient supply and the mathematical form of the response function, (2) the degree and spatial distribution of the nonuniformity in native soil-nutrient supply as quantified by its variance and skewness, (3) the targeted yield level, and (4) the effectiveness of fertilizer-nutrient addition, quantified by the slope of the relationship between the net increase in actual nutrient supply available to the crop and the quantity of applied nutrient.
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Cassman, K.G., Plant, R.E. A model to predict crop response to applied fertilizer nutrients in heterogeneous fields. Fertilizer Research 31, 151–163 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01063289
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01063289