Soybean nitrogen fixation dynamics in Iowa, USA

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2019-Licht-SoybeanNitrogenManuscript.pdf (1.77 MB)

Date

2019-04-15

Authors

Córdova, S. Carolina
Castellano, Michael
Dietzel, Ranae
Licht, Mark
Togliatti, Kaitlin
Martinez-Feria, Rafael
Archontoulis, Sotirios V.

Publisher

Altmetrics

Authors

Castellano, Michael

Person

Licht, Mark

Person

Organizational Units

Agronomy

Organizational Unit

Department

Agronomy

Abstract

The rainfed US Midwestern region has deep, fertile soils and leads the US in soybean [Glycine max, (L.) Merr.] production. Biological nitrogen (N) fixation (BNF) contributes a portion of the soybean N requirement, but variability in BNF is poorly understood and estimates of BNF for this region are rare. We established experiments in Iowa, USA to gain a better understanding of BNF and increase its predictability. We collected in-season BNF measurements accompanied by high temporal resolution soil and plant growth measurements. Across two years, two locations and two planting dates, we found that BNF contributed 23-65% of total aboveground N accumulation in soybean. The BNF rate was maximized at the early seed-filling period and varied from 1 to 3 kg N ha-1day-1. During seed filling period, the rate of BNF was related to crop growth rate (carbon (C) supply) but not to N accumulation by the reproductive organs (N demand). We found that a minimum crop growth rate of 135 kg dry matter ha-1day-1 is required to sustain maximum BNF rates. In contrast to BNF, the soil inorganic N uptake rate was related to seed N demand but not to C supply. Biomass production was the best predictor of total soybean BNF (R2 > 0.83). On average, 0.013 kg N was fixed per kg biomass produced. Across all trials, the N exported via seed was greater than the N imported via BNF, which suggests that Midwest US soybeans may reduce soil organic matter. We concluded that future research efforts should focus on increasing C – rather than N – availability during the seed filling period towards improving both grain yields and environmental sustainability.

Comments

This is a manuscript of an article published as Córdova, S. Carolina, Michael J. Castellano, Ranae Dietzel, Mark A. Licht, Kaitlin Togliatti, Rafael Martinez-Feria, and Sotirios V. Archontoulis. "Soybean nitrogen fixation dynamics in Iowa, USA." Field Crops Research 236 (2019): 165-176. doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2019.03.018. Posted with permission. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.