Frequent failure of nutrients to increase plant biomass supports the need for precision fertilization in agriculture

Implementing precision fertilization to maximize crop yield while minimizing economic and environmental impacts has become critical for agriculture. Variability in biomass response to fertilization within fields, among regions, and over time creates simultaneous risks of under-yielding and overfertilization. We quantify factors determining fertilization responsiveness (i.e., biomass increases with fertilization) up to 15 years in 61 unfertilized rangelands on six continents. We demonstrate widespread multi-year variability in responsiveness, with fertilization increasing average yield by 43% but failing to improve biomass 26% of the time. All sites were responsive at least once, but only four of 61 responded in all plots and years. Modelled management scenarios highlighted that fertilizer cessation is likely to generate sizable economic savings but always reduces yield because of the difficulty in predicting when and where biomass will be unresponsive. This work reveals substantial scale-dependent variability in fertilization responsiveness globally, while clarifying the prospects and pitfalls of managing more spatially and temporally precise nutrient application.

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Publication Details

Journal
Scientific Reports
Published
2025-04-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-99071-z
Citations
8
Primary Topic
Crop Yield and Soil Fertility
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
15.22

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article

Frequent failure of nutrients to increase plant biomass supports the need for precision fertilization in agriculture

Maria C. Caldeira, Lucíola Santos Lannes, Peter A. Wilfahrt, Grégory Sonnier et al.
8 citations
Scientific Reports
Crop Yield and Soil Fertility
15.22
article

Frequent failure of nutrients to increase plant biomass supports the need for precision fertilization in agriculture

Maria C. Caldeira, Lucíola Santos Lannes, Peter A. Wilfahrt, Grégory Sonnier, Mary Ellyn DuPre, Ingibjörg S. Jónsdóttir, Risto Virtanen, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Andrew S. MacDougall, Carlos Alberto Arnillas, Jane A. Catford, Elizabeth H. Boughton, Taku Kadoya, Nicole Hagenah, Anu Eskelinen, Laura Yahdjian, Jodi N. Price, Zhengwei Ren, Miguel N. Bugalho, Elizabeth T. Borer, Catalina Estrada, Glenda M. Wardle, G. F. Veen, W. Stanley Harpole, Jonathan D. Bakker, Eric W. Seabloom, Evan Fraser, Qingqing Chen, Anita C. Risch, Pablo L. Peri, Philip A. Fay, Sally A. Power, Dana M. Blumenthal, Ian Donohue, Chris R. Dickman, Elizabeth F. Waring, Harry Olde Venterink, Malcolm M. Campbell, George R. Wheeler, Maowei Liang, Yann Hautier, Oliver Carroll, Erika Hersh-Green
article en
8 citations

Abstract

Implementing precision fertilization to maximize crop yield while minimizing economic and environmental impacts has become critical for agriculture. Variability in biomass response to fertilization within fields, among regions, and over time creates simultaneous risks of under-yielding and overfertilization. We quantify factors determining fertilization responsiveness (i.e., biomass increases with fertilization) up to 15 years in 61 unfertilized rangelands on six continents. We demonstrate widespread multi-year variability in responsiveness, with fertilization increasing average yield by 43% but failing to improve biomass 26% of the time. All sites were responsive at least once, but only four of 61 responded in all plots and years. Modelled management scenarios highlighted that fertilizer cessation is likely to generate sizable economic savings but always reduces yield because of the difficulty in predicting when and where biomass will be unresponsive. This work reveals substantial scale-dependent variability in fertilization responsiveness globally, while clarifying the prospects and pitfalls of managing more spatially and temporally precise nutrient application.

Scientific ReportsVol. 15(1)
University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US), Michigan Technological University (US), The University of Sydney (AU), University of Minnesota (US), Agricultural Research Service (US), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE), University of Lisbon (PT), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR), Charles Sturt University (AU), University of Iceland (IS), University of North Carolina at Greensboro (US), Universidade de São Paulo (BR), King's College London (GB), University of Toronto (CA), Northeastern State University (US), Utrecht University (NL), National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP), University of Washington (US), Trinity College Dublin (IE), Universidad de Buenos Aires (AR), Scarborough Health Network (CA), Archbold Biological Station (US), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), National University of Austral Patagonia (AR), Agricultural Plant Physiology and Ecology Research Institute (AR), Lisbon School of Design (PT), Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NL), Imperial College London (GB), Laurentian University (CA), Western Sydney University (AU), University of Pretoria (ZA), Lanzhou University (CN), University of Guelph (CA), Bethel University (US), University of Oulu (FI)
Canada First Research Excellence Fund, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Crop Yield and Soil Fertility
15.22
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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