Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:22:44.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A dynamic model for the effects of potassium and nitrogen fertilizers on the growth and nutrient uptake of crops

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. Barnes ,
D. J. Greenwood  and
T. J. Cleaver
A. Barnes
Affiliation:
National Vegetable Research Station, Wellesbourne, Warwick
D. J. Greenwood
Affiliation:
National Vegetable Research Station, Wellesbourne, Warwick
T. J. Cleaver
Affiliation:
National Vegetable Research Station, Wellesbourne, Warwick
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A dynamic model has been derived to predict the day-to-day changes in the growth and nutrient composition of crops grown in the field with different levels of nitrogen and potassium fertilizer. Equations are included in the model to represent processes such as re-distribution of nutrients down the soil profile after rain or evapotranspiration, transformations between the various forms of potassium, transport of potassium ions through the soil to the roots and the dependence of growth and nutrient uptake on incoming radiation, plant composition, and soil water stress.

The model was tested by using it to forecast the responses of a test crop, cabbage, to fertilizers in four separate field experiments at WeUesbourne. From data describing the initial soil conditions and weights of the plant, the soil and crop characteristics and the daily weather conditions, the model correctly predicted the pattern of responses in each experiment, although, in some instances the absolute values of the theoretical and experimental yields differed somewhat. Of special significance was the ability of the model to forecast the effects of different weather conditions on crop response and the interactions between the effects of N and K fertilizers on the growth and chemical composition of plants.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , April 1976 , pp. 225 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alberda, Th. (1949). The influence of some external factors on growth and phosphate uptake of maize plants of different salt conditions. Recueil des travaux botaniques Neerlandais 41, 542–601.Google Scholar
Arnold, P. W. (1970). The behaviour of potassium in soil. Proceedings of the Fertilizer Society, no. 115, 3–30.Google Scholar
Asher, C. J. & Ozanne, P. G. (1967). Growth and potassium content of plants in solution cultures maintained at constant potassium concentrations. Soil Science 103, 155–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, J. P., Nye, P. H. & Tinker, P. B. (1973). Uptake of solutes by multiple root systems from soil. III. A model for calculating the solute uptake by a randomly dispersed root system developing in a finite volume of soil. Plant and Soil 38, 621–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barley, K. P. (1970). The configuration of the root system in relation to nutrient uptake. Advances in Agronomy 22, 159–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckett, P. H. T. (1964 a). Studies on soil potassium. 1. Confirmation of the ratio law: measurement of potassium potential. Journal of Soil Science 15, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckett, P. H. T. (1964 b). Studies on soil potassium. 2. The ‘immediate’ Q/I relations of labile potassium in the soil. Journal of Soil Science 15, 9–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, D. A. & Dermott, W. (1964). Fertiliser experiments on maincrop potatoes, 1955–61. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 63, 249–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunt, J. S. & Rovtra, A. D. (1955). The effect of temperature and heat treatment on soil metabolism. Journal of Soil Science 6, 129–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, I. G. (1974). A model for predicting the redistribution of salts applied to fallow soils after excess rainfall or evaporation. Journal of Soil Science 25, 165–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleaver, T. J. (1968). A non-destructive method for assessing plant growth. Annual Report of the National Vegetable Research Station for 1967, p. 29.Google Scholar
Clement, C. R., Hopper, M. J., Canaway, R. J. & Jones, L. H. P. (1974). A system for measuring the uptake of ions by plants from flowing solutions of controlled composition. Journal of Experimental Botany 25, 81–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, G. W. (1967). The Control of Soil Fertility. London: Crosby Lockward & Son Ltd.Google Scholar
Cram, W. J. (1973). Internal factors regulating nitrate and chloride influx in plant colls. Journal of Experimental Botany 24, 328–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, R. K. (1964). Cation-anion relationships in crop nutrition. III. Relationships between the ratios of sum of cations:sum of anions and nitrogen concentrations in several plant species. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 63, 109–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, R. L. (1969). Effect of root/leaf temperature differentials on root/shoot ratios in some pasture grasses and clover. Annals of Botany 33, 661–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Wit, C. T., Dijkshoorn, W. & Noggle, J. C. (1963). Ionic balance and growth of plants, No. 69–15. Verslagen van Landbouwkundige Onderzoekingen, Wageningen.Google Scholar
Drew, M. C., Ashley, T. W. & Saker, L. R. (1972). Effects of variation in the supply of nitrate phosphate and potassium within the rooting zone on root growth. Annual Report of the Agricultural Research Council Letcombe Laboratory for 1971, pp. 11–13.Google Scholar
Epstein, E. (1972). Mineral nutrition of plants. In Principles and Perspectives, pp. 128. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Gerwitz, A. (1972). Annual Report of the National Vegetable Research Station for 1971, p. 36.Google Scholar
Gerwitz, A. & Page, E. R. (1974). An empirical mathematical model to describe plant root systems. Journal of Applied Ecology 11, 773–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodall, D. W., Grant Lipp, A. E. & Slater, W. G. (1955). Nutrient interactions and deficiency diagnosis in the lettuce. I. Nutritional interactions and growth. Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 8, 301–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenwood, D. J., Cleaver, T. J. & Niendorf, K. B. (1974 a). Effects of weather conditions on the response of lettuce to applied fertilisers. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 82, 217–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenwood, D. J., Wood, J. T. & Cleaver, T. J. (1974 b). A dynamic model for the effects of soil and weather conditions on nitrogen response. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 82, 455–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffith, G. ap. (1960). The nitrate nitrogen content of herbage. II. Effect of different levels of application of sulphate of ammonia on the nitrate content of herbage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 11, 626–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haworth, F. & Cleaver, T. J. (1961). The flamephotometric determination of calcium and magnesium in vegetables. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 12, 848–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haworth, F. & Cleaver, T. J. (1964). Growth and mineral composition of vegetable seedlings. Journal of Horticultural Science 39, 34–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haworth, F. & Cleaver, T. J. (1965). Soil potassium and the growth of vegetable seedlings. II. Effect of potassium and ammonium salts on the growth and composition of seedlings. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 14, 600–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haworth, F., Cleaver, T. J. & Bray, J. M. (1967). The effects of different manurial treatments on the yield and mineral composition of spring cabbage. Journal of Horticultural Science 42, 13–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, W. E. (1968). The transportation of mineral elements into the xylem vessels of roots as depending on their K and P status. Landwirtschaftliche Forschung 21, 203–12.Google Scholar
Jenkinson, D. S. (1964). Studies on the decomposition of plant material in soil. I. Losses of carbon from 14C labelled ryegrass incubated with soil in the field. Journal of Soil Science 16, 104–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkinson, D. S. (1966). The turnover of organic matter in soil. In The use of isotopes in soil organic matter studies. Report of the FAO/IAEE Technical Meeting in Brunswick-Volkenrode 1963, pp. 187–97.Google Scholar
Justice, J. K. & Smith, R. L. (1962). Nitrification of ammonium sulphate in a calcareous soil as influenced by combinations of moisture, temperature and levels of added nitrogen. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 26, 246–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, R. D. & Johnson, D. D. (1964). The effect of soil moisture tension on carbon dioxide evolution, nitrification and nitrogen mineralization. Soil Science of America Proceedings 28, 644–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molz, F. J. & Remson, I. (1971). Application of an extraction-term model to the study of moisture flow to plant roots. Agronomy Journal 63, 72–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monteith, J. L., Szeicz, G. & Yabuki, K. (1964). Crop photosynthesis and the flux of carbon dioxide below the canopy. Journal of Applied Ecology 1, 321–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moss, P. (1963). Some aspects of the cation status of soil moisture. I. The ratio law and soil moisture content. Plant and Soil 18, 99–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichols, M. A. (1971). The effects of spacing and fertilizers on the growth of lettuce. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Massey, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Nye, P. H. (1968). Processes in the root environment. Journal of Soil Science 19, 205–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, E. R. (1975). The location and persistence of ammonia (aqueous, anhydrous and anhydrous + ‘N-Serve’) injected into a sandy loam soil, as shown by changes in concentrations of ammonium and nitrate ions. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 85, 65–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penman, H. L. (1962). Woburn Irrigation 1951–59. II. Results for grass. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 58, 349–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penman, H. L. (1974). Physics Department. Rothamsted Experimental Station Report for 1973, part 1, pp. 37–42.Google Scholar
Pitman, M. G., Courtioe, A. C. & Lee, B. (1968). Comparison of potassium and sodium uptake by barley roots at high and low salt status. Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 21, 871–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitman, M. G. & Cram, W. J. (1973). Ion Transport in Plants (ed. Anderson, W. P.), pp. 465–81. London: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowell, D. L., Martin, M. N. & Nye, P. H. (1967). The measurement and mechanism of ion diffusion in soils. III. The effect of moisture content and soil solution concentration on the self-diffusion of ions in soils. Journal of Soil Science 18, 204–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowse, H. R. (1974). The effect of irrigation on the length, weight and diameter of lettuce roots. Plant and Soil 40, 381–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, E. W. (1973). Soil Conditions and Plant Growth, 10th ed., p. 335. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Scaife, M. A. (1974). Computer simulation of nitrogen uptake and growth. In Plant Analysis and Fertilizer Problems. Proceedings of the 1th International Colloquium, Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany, September 1974.Google Scholar
Slater, W. G. & Goodall, D. W. (1957). Nutrient interactions and deficiency diagnosis in the lettuce. III. Nitrogen content and response to lettuce. Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 10, 253–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slatyer, R. O. (1967). Plant-Water Relationships. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
U.S. Salinity Laboratory Staff (1954). Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkaline soils. USDA Handbook No. 60, pp. 55–68.Google Scholar