Growth, Critical N Concentration and Crop N Demand in Butterhead and Crisphead Lettuce Grown under Mediterranean Conditions
Excessive nitrogen (N) fertilizers are applied in lettuce causing both environmental issues and N crop luxury consumption. In order to improve the N use efficiency (NUE) by defining optimal crop growth and N requirements of butterhead and crisphead lettuce, two field experiments were conducted using...
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doaj-1c12825f68f345c182aecd902bc3aac02021-04-02T09:38:14ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952019-10-0191168110.3390/agronomy9110681agronomy9110681Growth, Critical N Concentration and Crop N Demand in Butterhead and Crisphead Lettuce Grown under Mediterranean ConditionsGiulia Conversa0Antonio Elia1Department of the Science of Agriculture, Food and Environment (SAFE), University of Foggia, via Napoli 25, 71122 Foggia, ItalyDepartment of the Science of Agriculture, Food and Environment (SAFE), University of Foggia, via Napoli 25, 71122 Foggia, ItalyExcessive nitrogen (N) fertilizers are applied in lettuce causing both environmental issues and N crop luxury consumption. In order to improve the N use efficiency (NUE) by defining optimal crop growth and N requirements of butterhead and crisphead lettuce, two field experiments were conducted using 0, 50, and 100 kg ha<sup>−1</sup> of N fertilizer to study (i) the growth and productivity, (ii) the NUE, (iii) the critical N dilution curve, and (iv) the N demand. Nitrogen supply enhanced dry weight (DW) accumulation in the butterhead (from 295 to 410 g m<sup>−2</sup>), but not in the crisphead type (251 g m<sup>−2</sup>). The NUE indices underlined the poor ability of the crisphead type in absorbing soil N and also in the utilization of the absorbed N for producing DW. The critical N dilution curves %Nc = 3.96 DW<sup>−0.205</sup> and %Nc = 3.65 DW<sup>−0.115</sup> were determined for crisphead and butterhead lettuce, respectively. Based on these type-specific %Nc curves, the estimated N demand was 125 kg ha<sup>−1</sup> in the butterhead and 80 kg ha<sup>−1</sup> in the crisphead lettuce for producing 4.3 and 2.5 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> of DW, respectively, under Mediterranean climate. Neither N fertilization nor genotype affected crop productivity.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/9/11/681growthspecific leaf nitrogennitrogen use efficiencycritical nitrogen uptake |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Giulia Conversa Antonio Elia |
spellingShingle |
Giulia Conversa Antonio Elia Growth, Critical N Concentration and Crop N Demand in Butterhead and Crisphead Lettuce Grown under Mediterranean Conditions Agronomy growth specific leaf nitrogen nitrogen use efficiency critical nitrogen uptake |
author_facet |
Giulia Conversa Antonio Elia |
author_sort |
Giulia Conversa |
title |
Growth, Critical N Concentration and Crop N Demand in Butterhead and Crisphead Lettuce Grown under Mediterranean Conditions |
title_short |
Growth, Critical N Concentration and Crop N Demand in Butterhead and Crisphead Lettuce Grown under Mediterranean Conditions |
title_full |
Growth, Critical N Concentration and Crop N Demand in Butterhead and Crisphead Lettuce Grown under Mediterranean Conditions |
title_fullStr |
Growth, Critical N Concentration and Crop N Demand in Butterhead and Crisphead Lettuce Grown under Mediterranean Conditions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Growth, Critical N Concentration and Crop N Demand in Butterhead and Crisphead Lettuce Grown under Mediterranean Conditions |
title_sort |
growth, critical n concentration and crop n demand in butterhead and crisphead lettuce grown under mediterranean conditions |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Agronomy |
issn |
2073-4395 |
publishDate |
2019-10-01 |
description |
Excessive nitrogen (N) fertilizers are applied in lettuce causing both environmental issues and N crop luxury consumption. In order to improve the N use efficiency (NUE) by defining optimal crop growth and N requirements of butterhead and crisphead lettuce, two field experiments were conducted using 0, 50, and 100 kg ha<sup>−1</sup> of N fertilizer to study (i) the growth and productivity, (ii) the NUE, (iii) the critical N dilution curve, and (iv) the N demand. Nitrogen supply enhanced dry weight (DW) accumulation in the butterhead (from 295 to 410 g m<sup>−2</sup>), but not in the crisphead type (251 g m<sup>−2</sup>). The NUE indices underlined the poor ability of the crisphead type in absorbing soil N and also in the utilization of the absorbed N for producing DW. The critical N dilution curves %Nc = 3.96 DW<sup>−0.205</sup> and %Nc = 3.65 DW<sup>−0.115</sup> were determined for crisphead and butterhead lettuce, respectively. Based on these type-specific %Nc curves, the estimated N demand was 125 kg ha<sup>−1</sup> in the butterhead and 80 kg ha<sup>−1</sup> in the crisphead lettuce for producing 4.3 and 2.5 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> of DW, respectively, under Mediterranean climate. Neither N fertilization nor genotype affected crop productivity. |
topic |
growth specific leaf nitrogen nitrogen use efficiency critical nitrogen uptake |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/9/11/681 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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