The next step in nitrogen budgeting

In organic plant production yield is often limited by nitrogen, water, pests and diseases or weeds. If nitrogen is scarce, budgeting per crop is helpful for optimising total production. Further improvement of nitrogen use efficiency can be obtained by a dynamic approach, synchronizing the availability of nitrogen and the plant uptake pattern. This synchronization can be improved by using the NDICEA nitrogen model as evaluation instrument and as predictive tool. Results are shown from datasets out of the Netherlands, one showing the process of N-budgeting at crop level, one at rotation level. In case of more arid conditions, the process is principally the same but more complex : both nitrogen and water use must be optimized, and due to the interaction between these two, a dynamic approach is preferred.