The Nutrient Expert system improves nutrient use efficiency and reduces apparent nutrient residues of tomatoes in soil of different fertility in North China

Excessive fertilization results in inefficient nutrient use during tomato cultivation in North China, which has serious environmental effects. The Nutrient Expert (NE) system of tomato is a recommended fertilization system based on big data and aligned with established scientific principles. Despite the establishment of a relatively comprehensive system, studies on the agricultural, economic, and environmental effects of tomato fertilizer management using the NE system’s recommended fertilization remain lacking. Eighteen field trials on soil with different fertility levels were conducted from March 2023 to August 2024 over three seasons in the major tomato-growing areas of North China. Relative to farmers’ practice (FP), NE significantly reduced the application rates of N, P 2 O 5 , and K 2 O by 143.1, 180.8, and 319.8 kg · hm -2 , respectively. Compared with soil testing (ST), NE reduced N and P 2 O 5 inputs by 15.4 and 65.9 kg · hm -2 , while increasing K 2 O inputs by 120.6 kg · hm -2 . Compared to FP and ST, NE increased tomato yields by 6 375.4 and 7 501.2 kg · hm -2 (6.3% and 7.5%), resulting in a net profit of 3.6 and 3.2 thousand USD · hm -2 , respectively. NE considerably increased the agronomic efficiency, recovery efficiency, and transfer rate of N, P, and K (relative to FP and ST). Compared with FP, NE significantly increased the partial productivity of N, P, and K by 109.7, 369.5, and 30.59 kg · kg -1 , respectively. These results suggest that the NE system is an effective and viable method for enhancing nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and facilitating cleaner tomato production in northern China.