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Integrative knowledge-based nitrogen management practices can provide positive effects on ecosystem nitrogen retention

Nature Food volume 4, pages 1075–1089 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Knowledge-based nitrogen (N) management provides better synchronization of crop N demand with N supply to enhance crop production while reducing N losses. Yet, how these N management practices contribute to reducing N losses globally is unclear. Here we compiled 5,448 paired observations from 336 publications representing 286 sites to assess the impacts of four common knowledge-based N management practices, including balanced fertilization, organic fertilization, co-application of synthetic and organic fertilizers, and nitrification inhibitors, on global ecosystem N cycling. We found that organic and balanced fertilization rather than N-only fertilization stimulated soil nitrate retention by enhancing microbial biomass, but also stimulated soil N leaching and emissions relative to no fertilizer addition. Nitrification inhibitors, however, stimulated soil ammonium retention and plant N uptake while reducing N leaching and emissions. Therefore, integrative application of knowledge-based N management practices is imperative to stimulate ecosystem N retention and minimize the risk of N loss globally.

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Fig. 1: Global distribution of soil N transformation rates included in this study.
Fig. 2: Synthesized responses of soil N transformation rates and biogeochemical processes to knowledge-based N management practices relative to no fertilizer addition.
Fig. 3: The weighted effect sizes for soil biogeochemical processes in response to knowledge-based N management practices.
Fig. 4: Variable importance of environmental factors and response ratios of soil properties to the response of soil N transformations to fertilization.
Fig. 5: Variable importance of environmental factors and response ratios of soil properties to the response of soil N transformations to fertilization.
Fig. 6: Relationship of soil N transformations to environmental factors.
Fig. 7: Relationship of soil N transformations to environmental factors.
Fig. 8: Structural equation model depicting the multiple relations of soil gross N transformation rates with soil properties, N addition rate and environmental factors.

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Data availability

The data supporting the findings of this study are available on Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22729133). Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

The R (v.4.2.3) codes used to generate the results and figures reported in this study are available on Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22729133).

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the researchers whose data were used in this global synthesis. We also acknowledge the University of Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, the International Rice Research Institute, R. Hijmans, N. Garcia, J. Kapoor, A. Rala, A. Maunahan and J. Wieczorek for the world base map data. Financial support for this work was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 42150410380 (A.S.E.), 42122055 (Y.C.), 41977081 (Y.C.), 41977032 (Z.C.) and 42067008 (L.M.)), and the 111 Program of China (grant no. D19002 (Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China)).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Ahmed S. Elrys, Jing Wang, Lei Meng.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Tropical Crops, Hainan University, Haikou, China

    Ahmed S. Elrys, Lei Meng, Qilin Zhu & JinBo Zhang

  2. Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Ahmed S. Elrys & Mostafa M. El-Sawy

  3. Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

    Jing Wang

  4. School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China

    ZhaoXiong Chen, XiaoShun Tu, YanHui Zhang, JinBo Zhang, ZuCong Cai & Yi Cheng

  5. Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Mohamed T. El-Saadony

  6. Liebig Centre of Agroecology and Climate Impact Research, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    JinBo Zhang, ZuCong Cai, Christoph Müller & Yi Cheng

  7. Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing, China

    ZuCong Cai & Yi Cheng

  8. Institute of Plant Ecology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Christoph Müller

  9. School of Biology and Environmental Science and Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Christoph Müller

  10. Key Laboratory of Virtual Geographic Environment (Nanjing Normal University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing, China

    Yi Cheng

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Contributions

A.S.E. and Y.C. designed the study. A.S.E., J.W. and L.M. gathered the data and performed the analysis. A.S.E. and Y.C. took the lead in writing the paper. All authors contributed to discussing the results and writing and editing the paper. A.S.E., J.W. and L.M. contributed equally to this work.

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Correspondence to Yi Cheng.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 The weighted effect sizes for soil biogeochemical processes in response to knowledge-based N management practices.

(a) The abundances of overall bacteria, AOA (ammonia-oxidizing archaea), and AOB (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria). (b) NH4+ (extractable ammonium), NO3¯ (extractable nitrate), and [H+] (soil hydrogen concentration). The values outside and inside the parentheses at the right side of the confidence intervals represent, respectively, the number of observations and the number of studies. Errors represent 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of weighted means of response ratios. The effect of fertilizers addition is significant if the CI of effect size does not cover zero. The dashed lines indicate the no-fertilization effect. N, synthetic N; NPK, synthetic N in combination with synthetic P and K; O, organic N-only fertilization (for example, manure and/or compost); ONPK, organic fertilizers in combination with NPK; SNPK, straw in combination with NPK; NI, nitrification inhibitors. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Discussion, Figs. 1–151, Tables 1–29, PRISMA checklist and list of publications used in this synthesis.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Data 1

An Excel sheet containing all the data included in the paper.

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Elrys, A.S., Wang, J., Meng, L. et al. Integrative knowledge-based nitrogen management practices can provide positive effects on ecosystem nitrogen retention. Nat Food 4, 1075–1089 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00888-6

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