Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-lvwk9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-04T03:23:19.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nitrogen requirement of cereals: 1. Response curves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

D. A. Boyd ,
Lowsing T. K. Yuen  and
P. Needham
D. A. Boyd
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
Lowsing T. K. Yuen
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
P. Needham
Affiliation:
A.D.A.S., Cambridge
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Examples of response surfaces for pairs of nutrients and results of 41 multi-level experiments with N only were used to compare the goodness-of-fit of polynomial, inverse polynomial, exponential and intersecting-straight-lines models.

Whereas no one model fitted best at every site, many results were well represented by two intersecting straight lines and on average, this model had the least residual mean square. Of 17 experiments with spring barley in south western England the few results best represented by smooth curves were from crops much affected by leaf diseases.

Fertilizer response was poorly represented by models without a falling asymptote, like the simple exponential and inverse linear. Study of residuals after fitting the quadratic showed that this widely used model consistently over-estimated both the amount of fertilizer needed for maximum yield and the yield loss when too much fertilizer was given.

When fitted to the mean yields of each nitrogen treatment, most models had residual mean squares equal to or less than the error mean square, repeating a result obtained at Rothamsted as early as 1927. We question the validity of some well-known evidence for block and treatment additivity.

For 12 experiments in 1970, between-site differences in the parameter values of the two straight lines representing grain yield were related to leaf area at ear emergence.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 87 , Issue 1 , August 1976 , pp. 149 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, R. L. & Nelson, L. A. (1975). A family of models involving intersecting straight lines and concomitant experimental designs useful in evaluating response to fertilizer nutrients. Biometrics 31, 303–18.Google Scholar
Balmukand, Bh. (1928). Studies in crop variation. V. The relation between yield and soil nutrients. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 18, 602–27.Google Scholar
Blackman, F. F. (1905). Optima and limiting factors. Annals of Botany 19, 281–95.Google Scholar
Von Boguslawski, E. & Schneider, B. (1963). Die dritte Annäherung des Ertragsgesetzes: 2. Zeitschrift für Acker– und Pflanzenbau 116, 113–28.Google Scholar
Boyd, D. A. (1972). Some recent ideas on fertilizer response curves. Proceedings of the 9th Congress of International Potash Institute, pp. 461–73.Google Scholar
Boyd, D. A., Tinker, P. B. H., Draycott, A. P. & Last, P. J. (1970). Nitrogen requirement of sugar beet grown on mineral soils. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 74, 37–46.Google Scholar
Cooke, G. W. (1972). Fertilizing for Maximum Yield. London: Crosby Lockwood.Google Scholar
Crowther, E. M. & Yates, F. (1941). Fertilizer policy in war-time. The fertilizer requirements of arable crops. Empire Journal of Experimental Agriculture 9, 77–97.Google Scholar
Eagle, D. J., Russell, R. D., Boyd, D. A. & Draycott, A. P. (1976). Using response curves to estimate the effect on crop yield and profitability of possible changes in fertilizer recommendations. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Technical Bulletin, no. 32. (In the Press.)Google Scholar
Greenwood, D. J., Wood, J. T., Cleaver, T. J. & Hunt, J. (1971). A theory for fertilizer response. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 77, 511–23.Google Scholar
Heady, E. O., Pesek, J. T. & Brown, W. G. (1955). Crop response surfaces and economic optima in fertilizer use. Iowa State College Research Bulletin, no. 424, pp. 293–332.Google Scholar
Jónsson, L. (1974). On the choice of a production function model for nitrogen fertilization on small grains in Sweden. Swedish Journal of Agricultural Research 4, 87–97.Google Scholar
Kalamkar, R. J. (1930). Studies in crop variation. VIII. An application of the resistance formula to potato data. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 20, 440–54.Google Scholar
Kempthorne, O. (1947). A note on differential responses in blocks. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 37, 245–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Liebig, J. (1855). Die Grundsatze der Agriculturchemie. Braunschweig.Google Scholar
Nelder, J. A. (1966). Inverse polynomials, a useful group of multi-factor response functions. Biometrics 22, 128–41.Google Scholar
Swanson, E. R. (1963). The static theory of the firm and three laws of plant growth. Soil Science 95, 338–43.Google Scholar
Thorne, Gillian N. (1969). Physiology of grain yield. National Agricultural Advisory Service Quarterly Review, no. 85, pp. 42–6.Google Scholar
Yates, F. (1935). Complex experiments. Supplement to the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 2, 181–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar