TY  - JA
AU  - Vonk,W.J.
AU  - Hijbeek,R.
AU  - Glendining,M.J.
AU  - Powlson,D.S.
AU  - Bhogal,A.
AU  - Merbach,I.
AU  - Silva,J.V.
AU  - Poffenbarger,H.J.
AU  - Dhillon,J.
AU  - Sieling,K.
AU  - Berge,H.F.M.ten
TI  - The legacy effect of synthetic N fertiliser
SN  - 1351-0754
PY  - 2022///
CY  - United Kingdom
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 
KW  - Cereals
KW  - AGROVOC
KW  - Fertilizer application
KW  - Nitrogen
KW  - Stubble
KW  - Topsoil
KW  - Wheat
KW  - Long term experiments
N1  - Peer review; Open Access
N2  - Cumulative crop recovery of synthetic fertiliser nitrogen (N) over several cropping seasons (legacy effect) generally receives limited attention. The increment in crop N uptake after the first-season uptake from fertiliser can be expressed as a fraction (∆RE) of the annual N application rate. This study aims to quantify ∆RE using data from nine long-term experiments (LTEs). As such, ∆RE is the difference between first season (RE1st) and long-term (RELT) recovery of synthetic fertiliser N. In this study, RE1st was assessed either by the 15N isotope method or by a zero-N subplot freshly superimposed on a long-term fertilised LTE treatment plot. RELT was calculated by comparing N uptake in the total aboveground crop biomass between a long-term fertilised and long-term control (zero-N) treatment. Using a mixed linear effect model, the effects of climate, crop type, experiment duration, average N rate, and soil clay content on ∆RE were evaluated. Because the experimental setup required for the calculation of ∆RE is relatively rare, only nine suitable LTEs were found. Across these nine LTEs in Europe and North America, the mean ∆RE was 24.4% (±12.0%, 95% CI) of annual N application, with higher values for winter wheat than for maize. This result shows that fertiliser-N retained in the soil and stubble may contribute substantially to crop N uptake in subsequent years. Our results suggest that an initial recovery of 43.8% (±11%, 95% CI) of N application may increase to around 66.0% (±15%, 95% CI) on average over time. Furthermore, we found that ∆RE was not clearly related to long-term changes in topsoil total N stock. Our findings show that the—often used—first-year recovery of synthetic fertiliser N application does not express the full effect of fertiliser application on crop nutrition. The fertiliser contribution to soil N supply should be accounted for when exploring future scenarios on N cycling, including crop N requirements and N balance schemes
UR  - https://hdl.handle.net/10883/22128
DO  - https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13238
T2  - European Journal of Soil Science
ER  -