Nitrogen use efficiency
Context: A team of scientists reports physical attributes and genes that help identify which types of rice use nitrogen efficiently.
- Such knowledge could help farmers use nitrogenous fertilizers efficiently, save costs, as well as limit nitrogen-linked pollution, which contributes to climate change.
- The Indian government’s subsidy on N-fertilizer (mainly urea) is over ₹ 50,000 crore per annum.
- The farmer pays only a quarter of the market price of urea and harvests a similar proportion of it into grain, at a Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) of 25-30%. The rest of it is lost as N-pollution.
- According to the Indian Nitrogen Assessment (2017), agriculture accounts for over 70% of all nitrous oxide emission in the Indian environment, out of which 77% is contributed by fertilizers, mostly urea.
- Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that is 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
- It has replaced methane as the second largest GHG emission from Indian agriculture over the last 15 years.
- Cereals account for over 69% of the total consumption of N fertilizers in India, with rice topping the list at 37%, followed by wheat (24%).
The International Nitrogen Initiative
- The International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) is an international program, set up in 2003 under sponsorship of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).
- The key aims of the INI are to:
- optimize nitrogen’s beneficial role in sustainable food production, and
- minimize nitrogen’s negative effects on human health and the environment resulting from food and energy production.
- The INI holds a conference every three years, inviting members of the international nitrogen community to meet up and discuss ideas and exchange knowledge on nitrogen issues.
- The last INI conference was held in Melbourne, in December 2016.
- This conference was attended by 380 delegates from over 33 countries.
- A key output of the conference was The Melbourne Declaration, which recognize the management of reactive nitrogen is closely related to the UN Sustainable Development. It calls for responsible Nitrogen Management for a sustainable future.
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