Crops: Improving nitrogen use efficiency lessens environmental impact

Thursday, December 30, 2010 - 22:30 in Earth & Climate

Most agricultural crops require large quantities of nitrate-rich fertilizer to realize optimal yields. Increased interest in environmentally beneficial "low-input" approaches is challenging researchers to identify genotypes that have a characteristic called "high nutrient use efficiency", or NUE. Using vegetable types with high NUE could help growers lessen environmental impacts while maintaining high crop yields. A new study reported on improved NUE traits that resulted from grafting melon plants onto commercial rootstocks.

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