Reconciling the Mitscherlich’s law of diminishing returns with Liebig’s law of the minimum. Some results on crop modeling

Ferreira, Iuri Emmanuel de Paula; Zocchi, Silvio Sandoval; Báron, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.mbs.2017.08.008

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The observation that the incremental agronomic N use efficiency decreased with increasing non-N-fertilized yield level is in agreement with the previous findings of Valkama et al (2013). It is also compatible with Mitscherlich's law of diminishing returns, which assumes that the fraction of fertilizer addition used by the crop becomes smaller and smaller as the production approaches its maximum level (Ferreira, Zocchi, & Baron, 2017). Overall, the results of the present and earlier studies (Kachanoski, O'Halloran, Aspinall, & Von Bertoldi, 1996;Lory & Scharf, 2003;Valkama et al, 2013) demonstrate that the yields achieved with (near-) optimum N fertilization are poor predictors of responsiveness of a crop to added N at a given site.…”

Section: Yield Levels As Affected By Soil Organic Carbon and Texturesupporting

confidence: 91%

Soil organic carbon and clay content as deciding factors for net nitrogen mineralization and cereal yields in boreal mineral soils

Soinne

Keskinen

Räty

et al. 2020

European J Soil Science

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To achieve appropriate yield levels, inherent nitrogen (N) supply and biological N fixation are often complemented by fertilization. To avoid economic losses and negative environmental impacts due to over-application of N fertilizer, estimation of the inherent N supply is critical. We aimed to identify the roles of soil texture and organic matter in N mineralization and yield levels attained in cereal cultivation with or without N fertilization in boreal mineral soils. First, the net N mineralization and soil respiration were measured by laboratory incubation with soil samples varying in clay and organic carbon (C) contents. Secondly, to estimate the inherent soil N supply under field conditions, both unfertilized and fertilized cereal yields were measured in fields on clay soils (clay 30-78%) and coarse-textured soils (clay 0-28%). In clay soils (C 2.5-9.0%), both the net N mineralization and the cereal yields (without and with fertilization) decreased with increasing clay/C ratio. Moreover, in soils with high clay/C ratio, the agronomic N use efficiency (additional yield per kg of fertilizer N) varied considerably, indicating the presence of growth limitations other than N. In coarse-textured soils, the yield increase attained by fertilization increased with increasing organic C. Our results indicate that for clay soils in a cool and humid climate, the higher the clay content, the more organic C is needed to produce reasonable yields and to ensure efficient use of added nutrients without high N losses to the environment. For coarse soils having a rather high mean organic C of 2.3%, the organic C appeared to improve agronomic N use efficiency. For farmers, simple indicators such as the clay/C ratio or the use of non-N-fertilized control plots may be useful for site-specific adjustment of the rates of N fertilization. Highlights• We aimed to identify simple indicators of inherent soil N supply applicable at the farm level.

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Section: Yield Levels As Affected By Soil Organic Carbon and Texturesupporting

confidence: 91%

Soil organic carbon and clay content as deciding factors for net nitrogen mineralization and cereal yields in boreal mineral soils

Soinne

Keskinen

Räty

et al. 2020

European J Soil Science

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“…Finally, it can be expected that the promotion of the eCO 2 effect on GY by N application does not necessarily extend into very high applications rates, since other factors, such as phosphorus or water availability, may become limiting and super‐optimal N may reduce crop yield compared to optimal N application (Yang et al, ). The diminishing returns from increasing fertilization, described by the so called Mischerlich's law (Mischerlich, ), were established and used for long in agronomy (Ferreira, Zocchi, & Baron, ) and its application in the context of the potential N limitation of CO 2 fertilization is yet another example.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen application is required to realize wheat yield stimulation by elevated CO₂ but will not remove the CO₂‐induced reduction in grain protein concentration

Pleijel

Broberg

Högy

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Elevated CO2 (eCO2) generally promotes increased grain yield (GY) and decreased grain protein concentration (GPC), but the extent to which these effects depend on the magnitude of fertilization remains unclear. We collected data on the eCO2 responses of GY, GPC and grain protein yield and their relationships with nitrogen (N) application rates across experimental data covering 11 field grown wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivars studied in eight countries on four continents. The eCO2‐induced stimulation of GY increased with N application rates up to ~200 kg/ha. At higher N application, stimulation of GY by eCO2 stagnated or even declined. This was valid both when the yield stimulation was expressed as the total effect and using per ppm CO2 scaling. GPC was decreased by on average 7% under eCO2 and the magnitude of this effect did not depend on N application rate. The net effect of responses on GY and protein concentration was that eCO2 typically increased and decreased grain protein yield at N application rates below and above ~100 kg/ha respectively. We conclude that a negative effect on wheat GPC seems inevitable under eCO2 and that substantial N application rates may be required to sustain wheat protein yields in a world with rising CO2.

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“…The Mitscherlich function has been formulated variously by different workers (Ferreira et al, 2017;Harmsen, 2000;Sorensen, 1983). The following is the notation commonly reported in the literature:…”

Section: Asymptotic Family Of Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dose-response models to guide site-specific nutrient management and lessons for fertiliser trial design in sub-Saharan Africa

Sileshi

2021

Ex. Agric.

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Summary Optimisation of fertiliser use and site-specific nutrient management are increasingly becoming critical because of the growing need to balance agricultural productivity with the growing demand for food and environmental concerns. Trials to determine responses of crops to fertilisers have been widely conducted in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with increasing emphasis on the development of economically optimum rates (EORs). Computation of EORs depends on accurate estimation of both the optimum nutrient rate and the agronomic maximum yield response; however, estimation of nutrient-response parameters and EORs is beset by a number of problems. Therefore, the objectives of this paper were to (1) point out common problems in the development and use of nutrient dose-response models and (2) provide corrective measures to facilitate future trial design and data analysis. This review outlines the underlying assumptions, strengths and limitations of the various response functions in order to facilitate informed choices by practitioners. Using specific examples, it also shows that (1) the commonly used trial designs do not allow examination of interactions between two or more nutrients and (2) trial designs with ≤5 nutrient levels and wide spacing between the levels result in large uncertainty in dose-response parameters. The key recommendations emerging from the review are as follows: (1) factorial designs and response surface models should be used more widely to address interactions between nutrients; (2) a minimum of six carefully spaced nutrient levels should be used to correctly estimate dose-response parameters; and (3) when locating field trials, Reference Soil Groups and cropping history should be carefully considered to produce site-specific EORs.

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Reconciling the Mitscherlich’s law of diminishing returns with Liebig’s law of the minimum. Some results on crop modeling

Cited by 26 publications

References 37 publications

Soil organic carbon and clay content as deciding factors for net nitrogen mineralization and cereal yields in boreal mineral soils

Soil organic carbon and clay content as deciding factors for net nitrogen mineralization and cereal yields in boreal mineral soils

Nitrogen application is required to realize wheat yield stimulation by elevated CO₂ but will not remove the CO₂‐induced reduction in grain protein concentration

Dose-response models to guide site-specific nutrient management and lessons for fertiliser trial design in sub-Saharan Africa

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Reconciling the Mitscherlich’s law of diminishing returns with Liebig’s law of the minimum. Some results on crop modeling

Cited by 26 publications

References 37 publications

Soil organic carbon and clay content as deciding factors for net nitrogen mineralization and cereal yields in boreal mineral soils

Soil organic carbon and clay content as deciding factors for net nitrogen mineralization and cereal yields in boreal mineral soils

Nitrogen application is required to realize wheat yield stimulation by elevated CO2 but will not remove the CO2‐induced reduction in grain protein concentration

Dose-response models to guide site-specific nutrient management and lessons for fertiliser trial design in sub-Saharan Africa

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Nitrogen application is required to realize wheat yield stimulation by elevated CO₂ but will not remove the CO₂‐induced reduction in grain protein concentration