Improved nitrogen use efficiency in agriculture by CATCH crops as producers of Biological Nitrification Inhibitors

CATCH 作物作为生物硝化抑制剂的生产者提高了农业氮利用效率

• 批准号: 459536758
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Nicolaus von Wirén
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Department Biochemistry and Metabolism
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/459536758?language=en
• 关键词: Improved; nitrogen; use; efficiency; agriculture

Agrosystems in industrialized countries are confronted with important challenges: they are facing increasing food demand while they are requested to reduce external inputs and to minimize negative environmental impact. The widespread use of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers has promoted the productivity in agricultural plant production. However, due to the low N use efficiency in crop cultivation, the intensive use of N fertilizers entails losses from the plant-soil system via nitrate leaching and/or N gas emissions, leading to water and atmosphere pollution. Strategies aiming at optimizing N fertilizer management and reducing N losses contribute to several of the UN Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) dealing with global warming (SDG13), responsible production (SDG12), clean water (SDG6) and biodiversity (SDG15). In the CATCH-BNI project, we will investigate the potential of catch crops to provide key functions and services in the regulation of N cycling in conventional and organic agrosystems. The nitrification process operated by soil bacteria and archaea leads to rapid conversion of ammonium into nitrate, which is prone to leaching, and associates with denitrification and the production of greenhouse gases (NOx). While chemical inhibition of nitrification has emerged as a tool to limit nitrate losses, several plant species were lately shown to display nitrification inhibiting activities, mostly through release of Biological Nitrification Inhibitors (BNIs). The use of BNIs allows transferring the nitrification inhibition strategy to organic production systems and represents a low-cost alternative to the application of chemical inhibitors. Tissues from certain catch crop species accumulate compounds with BNI activities, which can be used as green manure to improve soil fertility and reduce the speed of nitrification. This is e.g. the case for glucosinolate-containing plant tissues from some Brassicaceae, for which a greater accumulation of ammonium was observed in soils amended with their tissues. In the CATCH-BNI project we will investigate the incorporation of catch crops with BNI potential into crop rotations as a mitigation strategy to slow down nitrification processes and retain ammonium in soils as well as to increase soil N pools for the subsequent target crop.The main objective of the CATCH-BNI project is to design innovative approaches slowing down the conversion of ammonium to nitrate in soils for optimized nutrition of target crops. For this, we aim at: i) identifying catch crop plant species and/or cultivars with BNI activities in their root exudates and/or root and shoot tissues; ii) understanding how efficiently the N cycle is impacted by the use of BNI-producing catch crops and how the target crops perform (yield and NUE); iii) determining the best options and modalities to stabilize organic fertilizers with BNI plant material and iv) validating in real-field conditions the proposed innovations.

工业化国家的农业系统面临着重大挑战：它们面临着日益增长的粮食需求，同时要求它们减少外部投入并尽量减少对环境的负面影响。合成氮肥的广泛使用提高了农业生产的生产力。然而，由于作物种植中的氮肥利用率较低，氮肥的大量使用会导致植物-土壤系统因硝酸盐淋溶和/或氮气排放而损失，从而导致水和大气污染。旨在优化氮肥管理和减少氮损失的战略有助于实现联合国战略发展目标（SDG），其中涉及全球变暖（SDG13）、负责任生产（SDG12）、清洁水（SDG6）和生物多样性（SDG15）。在 CATCH-BNI 项目中，我们将研究农作物在常规和有机农业系统氮循环调节中提供关键功能和服务的潜力。由土壤细菌和古细菌进行的硝化过程导致铵快速转化为硝酸盐，硝酸盐易于淋滤，并与反硝化和温室气体（NOx）的产生相关。虽然硝化的化学抑制已成为限制硝酸盐损失的一种工具，但最近发现一些植物物种表现出硝化抑制活性，主要是通过释放生物硝化抑制剂（BNI）。 BNI 的使用可以将硝化抑制策略转移到有机生产系统中，并且是化学抑制剂应用的低成本替代方案。某些农作物的组织会积累具有BNI活性的化合物，这些化合物可以用作绿肥，以提高土壤肥力并降低硝化速度。这是例如以某些十字花科植物的含硫代葡萄糖苷的植物组织为例，在用其组织改良的土壤中观察到更多的铵积累。在 CATCH-BNI 项目中，我们将研究将具有 BNI 潜力的农作物纳入轮作，作为减缓硝化过程、保留土壤中的铵以及增加后续目标作物的土壤氮库的缓解策略。CATCH-BNI 项目的主要目标是设计创新方法，减缓土壤中铵向硝酸盐的转化，从而优化目标作物的营养。为此，我们的目标是： i) 鉴定在其根分泌物和/或根和芽组织中具有 BNI 活性的农作物物种和/或栽培品种； ii) 了解产生 BNI 的农作物的使用对氮循环的效率有何影响以及目标作物的表现（产量和氮肥利用效率）； iii) 确定用 BNI 植物材料稳定有机肥料的最佳选择和方式，以及 iv) 在实际条件下验证所提出的创新。