Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Apr 8;9(1):5774.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-42271-1.

Yield stability analysis reveals sources of large-scale nitrogen loss from the US Midwest

Bruno Basso  1   2   3 , Guanyuan Shuai  4 , Jinshui Zhang  4   5 , G Philip Robertson  6   7   8
Affiliations

Yield stability analysis reveals sources of large-scale nitrogen loss from the US Midwest

Bruno Basso et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Loss of reactive nitrogen (N) from agricultural fields in the U.S. Midwest is a principal cause of the persistent hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. We used eight years of high resolution satellite imagery, field boundaries, crop data layers, and yield stability classes to estimate the proportion of N fertilizer removed in harvest (NUE) versus left as surplus N in 8 million corn (Zea mays) fields at subfield resolutions of 30 × 30 m (0.09 ha) across 30 million ha of 10 Midwest states. On average, 26% of subfields in the region could be classified as stable low yield, 28% as unstable (low yield some years, high others), and 46% as stable high yield. NUE varied from 48% in stable low yield areas to 88% in stable high yield areas. We estimate regional average N losses of 1.12 (0.64-1.67) Tg N y-1 from stable and unstable low yield areas, corresponding to USD 485 (267-702) million dollars of fertilizer value, 79 (45-113) TJ of energy, and greenhouse gas emissions of 6.8 (3.4-10.1) MMT CO2 equivalents. Matching N fertilizer rates to crop yield stability classes could reduce regional reactive N losses substantially with no impact on crop yields, thereby enhancing the sustainability of corn-based cropping systems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Crop yield stability maps for (A) ten U.S. Midwest states and subregions of (B) 10,000 km2, (C) 196 km2, and (D) 118 ha. Colors represent yield stability areas for 0.09 ha portions of fields planted to corn or corn-soybean for at least three years during 2010-2017 (~30 Mha total).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Robertson GP, Vitousek PM. Nitrogen in agriculture: Balancing the cost of an essential resource. Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 2009;34:97–125. doi: 10.1146/annurev.environ.032108.105046. - DOI
    1. Vitousek PM, et al. Nutrient imbalances in agricultural development. Science. 2009;324:1519–1520. doi: 10.1126/science.1170261. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lassaletta L, et al. Nitrogen use in the global food system: past trends and future trajectories of agronomic performance, pollution, trade, and dietary demand. Environmental Research Letters. 2016;11:095007. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/095007. - DOI
    1. Mueller ND, et al. Declining spatial efficiency of global cropland nitrogen allocation. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 2017;31:245–257.
    1. Howarth R, et al. Coupled biogeochemical cycles: eutrophication and hypoxia in temperate estuaries and coastal marine ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 2011;9:18–26. doi: 10.1890/100008. - DOI

Publication types