The world’s most widely grown crop, wheat, could become “a super nitrogen-efficient crop” if plant researchers succeed in cross-breeding a trait called biological nitrification inhibition into the staple grain, says the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Wheat plants use about 30 percent of nitrogen fertilizer applied to fields at present, but if the trait can be introduced into the plants they will become more efficient users and suppress loss of nitrogen from the soil.
“Farmers would spend far less on fertilizer and nitrous oxide emissions from wheat farming could be reduced by as much as 30 percent,” said researcher Guntur Subbarao of the International Rice Research Institute, lead author of a study published in the journal Plant Science about biological nitrification inhibition. CIMMYT was part of the team that conducted the study.
Nitrogen fertilizer is a major source of greenhouse-gas emissions by agriculture. About 70 percent of nitrogen applied to crops is lost to runoff or flushed into the air as nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas. Hans Braun, CIMMYT’s director of wheat research, said, “BNI technology is one of several options we’re pursuing to reduce nitrogen losses from wheat farming, but more funding is needed.” One-fifth of fertilizer worldwide is used on wheat.