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Improving Fertilizer Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Cropping Systems - Soil Nitrogen Needs' Critical Consideration

Bijay-Singh

leAR National Professor, Punjab AgricuLturaL University, Ludhiana 141 004, India

Introduction

In the years to come, agriculture in India and many developing countries in Asia is going to witness a very delicate balance between inputs and outputs of reactive nitrogen (N). On the one hand, the demand of burgeoning population for enough and high protein food will require substantial N inputs into agro-ecosystems through chemical fertilizers, biological N fixation and recycling of organic wastes, and, on the other hand, to ensure minimal leakage of N from agriculture to other ecosystems, N must be used efficiently to produce more food with less N inputs. Recent review on N use efficiency (Ladha et al., 2005) revealed avsraqe single-year fertilizer N recovery efficiencies as 57% for wheat and 46% for rice in researcher managed experimental plots. Nitrogen recovery in crops grown by farmers, however, is often much lower. Gassman et al. (2002) found that N recovery from on-farm locations averaged 31 % for irrigated rice in Asia and 40% for rice under field specific management. For wheat grown in India, the recovery averaged 18% under poor weather conditions but 49% when grown under good weather conditions (Table 1). As reviewed by Ladha et al. (2005), average recovery efficiency of 15N for cereal crops was 44% in the first growing season and total recovery of 15N fertilizer in the first and five subsequent crops was only around 50%. Assuming that amount of 15N for crereal crops was 44% in the first growing season and total recovery of 15N fertilizer in the first and five subsequent crops was only around 55%. Assuming that amount of 15N in the roots becomes negligible in the sixth growing season, the remaining 50% of the 15N fertilizer would have either become part of the soil organic matter pool or was lost from the cropping system (Jansson and Persson, 1982). In a field study conducted in Saharan Morocco with a wheat-wheat cropping sequence, Ichir and Ismaili (2003) applied 85 kg15N ha' in a threesplit application. Fertilizer N recovery by wheat in the first year was 33.1 %. At harvest, 64.8% of the fertilizer N was found in the 0-80 cm profile; 2.1 % of the applied N could not be accounted for. The recovery of the residual labelled fetilizer N by the subsequent whsat crop was 6.,4%. According to an analysis carried out by Pilbeam (1996) using data cctlectec from different parts of the globe, retention of resldual t'N in the soil increased with increasing

climate dryness. '

Nitrogen use efficiency can mean different things to different people and is easily misunderstood and misrepresented. For example, Table 2 shows data from an experiment on irrigated wheat in Punjab. Recovery of 43% N in the above ground biomass of applied N is low and suggests that N may pose an environmental risk. Total N uptake by wheat was 107 kg N na': 52 from thefertilizer and 55 from the soil. Total N uptake (from soil + fertilizer) works out to be 70% of the total fertilizer N applied. Nitrogen contributions from soil in a given year/season and on a long-term basis can greatly alter apparent recovery

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efficiency of applied N (REN) because there occurs a large' fetilizer N substitution of soil N. Although both indigenous soil resources and applied fertilizer N contribute to plant available N pool consisting of N03 and NH4 ions, this pool represents a very small fraction of total soil-N. A typical irrigated soil under rice-wheat cropping system in the Indo-Gangetic plain contains more than 2000 kg N ha' in the top 30 cm of soil where roots derive majority of N supply. The amount of N derived from indegenous resources during a single cropping cycle typically ranges from 30 to 100 kg N ha' that represents only 1.5 to 5% of total soil N. Although small in size, the indigenous N supply has a very high N-fertilizer substitution value because of the relatively low REN from applied N fertilizer. Further, as C/N ratio of soil organic matter is relatively constant, changes in soil C balance introduced by management practics including fertilizer use affect the soil N balance. The overall fertilizer N use efficiency can thus be increased by achievinq greater REN, by reducing the amount of N lost from soil organic and inorganic pools, or both. When soil N content is increasing, the, amount of sequestered N contributes to higher N use efficiency and the amount of sequestered N derived from applied N contributes to a higher REw Conversely, any decrease in soil N stock will reduce overall N use efficiency and REw

Role of soil nitrogen in the nitrogen cycle

Agricultural soils contain a large pool of N that exists in organic combinations and it is distinguished from applied N (inorqarjlc fertilizers, orgnaic manures, biological N fixation, atmospheric deposition, etc. ) as soil N. Figure 1 shows a schematic outline of N pools along with inputs and outputs from rooting zone of a typical arable soil under field crops. Oecomposer-N and labile soil organic matter-N pools contained in the big soil N pool dominate the short-term N turnover during crop growth period because these are relatively dynamic and readily respond to inputs like organic manures, plant residues and to soil disturbances caused by tillage. Nitrogen can occur in forms with widely different characteristics in terms of availability to plants as well as susceptibility to loss to environment (Fig. 1).

An understanding of soil N turnover in natural or unmanaged ecosystems can provide us clues to efficiently managed applied N as well as to maintain better soil quality. In these systems, 'atmospheric deposition and N2-fixing by plants constitute the external sources of N, and N is returned to the soil either directly in plant litter or as residues from herbivorebased food chain. The accumulation of N in organic forms in the soil is a characteristic feature of terrestrial ecosystem. Mineral N release through mineralization-immobilization turnover can be taken up by plant roots or is lost to the environment. Natural ecosystems often exhibit a high degree of temporal and spatial synchrony and synlocation between N released and N uptake by mixed plant communities. It results in minimal N transfer across system boundaries as compared to the extenet of N cycling within the ecosystem. These natural ecosystems thus result in minimal losses of N via nitrate leaching or gaseous losses and represent a case of relatively tight 'N cycle (Christensen, 2004). On the other hand, agro-ecosystems, in general, are relatively open with respect to N cycling. So as to produce biomass suitable for consumption outisde the system, besides N desposition and N2-fixation (if any through introduction of N2-fixing plants in the cropping systems), N is applied externally as chemical fertilizers or organic manures to compensate for N removed

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Plant biomass

Harvest

.'

Atmospheric deposition

Denitrification and volatilization

Mineral fertilizers

Organic manures

Nz fixation

Soil Nitrogen

Stabilized organic matter-N

~

"

.. _

,

" _ ..

Leaching Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of nitrogen pools, inputs and outputs in the rooting zone of a typical

arable soil under cereal crops (simplified from Christensen et al., 2004)

in exported products. In modern agro-ecosystems, removal of as much as 300 kg N ha in harvested above ground portion of the crops each year necessitates substantial inputs of fetilizer N or N2 fixation through legumes to maintain productivity (Cassman et al., 2002). When adequate amounts of fertilizer N are not applied in agro-ecosystem, soils are mined of N. Intensive cropping in agro-ecosystem exhibits large N uptake in active but often relatively short growth phase. Changes in hydrology through irrigation and drainage and soil structure through tillage further result in N dynamics of agro-ecosystems to differ from those of natural systems in terms of quantitative significance of different processes in the N cycle. Reduced synlocation and synchrony in the N turnover and reduced return of organic matter to the soil adversely affect N use efficiency in agro-ecosystems.

Amongst many factors that influence N use efficiency (application method, fertilizer

i,.JI

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type, soil and crop properties) one potentially important factor is the uncertainty faced by farmer in deciding the amount of fertilizer N to be applied (Lobell, 2007). This uncertainty can be reduced by knowing the Nsupplying capacity of the soil as determined by factors such as total soil N, organic matter, aeration and microbial activity (Cassman et al., 1996 a,b), as well as by knowing crop N demand as it varies with climatic conditions, pests, soil fertility, and other factors (Bullock and Bullock, 1994; Hammer et al., 1996; Dawe and Maya, 1999). Dobermann et al. (2002) estimated soil N supply through a measurement of N uptake of a crop where nutrients other than N were supplied in sufficient quantity but no N was applied (Janssen et al., 1990; Cassman et al., 1998). Applying quality of fertilizer N calculated by considering soil N supply rather than following traditional farming practices resulted in increased N use efficiencies by 30-40% and 7% increase in grain yield in 179

irrigated rice fields in Asia. .

Fertilizer N applications in agro-ecosystems rely on the premise that fertilization, rather than indigenous soil N supply is the major source for crop uptake. But it has been found inconsistent with considerable evidence obtained from 15N-tracer investigations that plant uptake is generally more extensive for soil than fertilizer N even with excessive fertilization (IAEA, 1970; Bigerieog et al., 1979; Gerwing et al., 1979; Olson, 1980; Kitur et al., 1984; Balabane and Balesdent, 1992; Reddy and Reddy, 1993; Stevens et al., 2095). The data obtained by Saito and Ishii (1987) on N uptake by maize from soil N and fertilizer N from 12 soils varying widely in soil N content (Fig. 2) very effectively substantiates the fact that in managed agro-ecosystems soil N plays a vital role in supplying N to crop plants and thus dictates the efficiency of applied tertilizer N.

16831984

o • N from soil

L>. ... Total uplake

200

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Z 100

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... L>. 1 from fertilizer

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100 200

Minoralizod N

Fig. 2. Nitrogen uptake by maize from mineral N supplied by soil and fertilizer N applied at 100 kg N ha' in 12 soils containing 0.04 to 0.82% total N (adapted from Saito and Ishii, 1987)

Maintenance of soil organic matter is an important goal in agriculture both in terms of soil fertility and increasing the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (C02) in soil Because of the tight C:N ratio in soil organic matter, sequestration of C requires sufficient N. This role of N should also be considered in assessing fertilizer N use efficiencies and designing long-term N management strategies. With growing dependent on chemical N

162

fertilizer, the assertion has often been made that these inputs are a positive factor in maintaining or increasing soil organic matter because higher yields enhance the input of crop residues (Lee and Brays, 1949; Odell et al., 1984; Mitchell et al., 1991; Dobermann et al., 2005). Such a view is at odds with a century of soil organic carbon changes reported for the Morrow Plots, the world's oldest experimental site under continuous corn (Khan et al., 2007). After 40 to 50 years of applying chemical fertilizers that exceeded grain N removal by 60 to 190%, a net decline occurred in soil C despite massive residue C incorporation. To fully realize the potential benefits of N fertilizer, applications must be adequate but not excessive, so as to maximize the economic profitability of crop production while minimizing microbial oxidation of residue C and native soil organic matters. This strategy merits serious consideration because soils hold more than twice as much C as the atmosphere, and even a minor change in terrestrial CO2 balance could have a significant global impact (Powlson, 2005).

Premises of improving nitrogen use efficiency

Fertilizer N use efficiencies in cereal crops expressed as partial factor productivity of N (PFP N) has been decreasing exponentially since 1965 in India (Fig. 3) and in most of the developing countries. The PFP N is an aggregate efficiency index that includes contributions to crop yields derived from uptake of indigenous soil N, fertilizer N uptake efficiency, and the efficiency with which N acquired by the plant is converted to grain yield. A decrease in PFP N occurs as farmers move yields higher along a fixed N response function, unless other factors shift the response function up. In other words, an initial decline in PEP N is an expected consequence of the adoption of N fertilizers by farmers and a not necessarily

180
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1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year Fig. 3. Fertilizer N efficiency of food grain production (annual food grains production divided by annual feritlizers N application) during 1965 to 2004 in India

(Source: Fertilizer Association of India, 2005)

163

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bad without a system context. Fertilizer N use was ssmall in the early 1960s and increased exponentially during the course of the Green Revolution, which resulted in a steep decrease in PFP N' According to Dobermann and Cassman (2005), with the exception of Africa, PFP N continues to decline in all developing regions at rates of -1 to -2% year". The very high PFP N in Africa (123 kg kg" is indicative of unsustainable soil N mining due to low N rates used at present. In India, PFP N seem to have leveled off in recent years, possibly due to better extension services as compared to most developing nations. To meet cereal demand in 2025 at a modest pace of increased N consumption, the global PFP N in cereals needs to increase at a rate of 0.1 to 0.4% year" (Dobermann and Cassman, 2005). Such rates are acheivable. For example, in the U.K., average cereal PFPN increased from 36 kg" in 1981/85 to 44 kg kg" by 2001/02 (+23%, 1.1% year"). Similarly, in U.S.A., PFP N in maize increased from 42 kg kg" in 1980 to 57 kg" in 2000 (+36%, 1.6% year") (Dobermann and Cassman, 2002).

According to Dobermann (2007), knowing and managing the N supply from soil and other indigenous sources and maximizing the agronomic efficiency (AEN) are equally important components for achieving high PFP N' Since the relationship between yield and N uptake is tight and losses of fertilizer N are the highest during the year of application, maximizing the first crop recovery of applied N (REN) is of particular importance. In modern cereal production systems, management should aim to achieve AEN of 20-35 kg grain kg" N applied (Dobermann, 2007). Crop demand for N, supply of soil N from indigenous sources, fertilizer N rate, timing, product and mode of application determine achievable levels of REN. Figure 4 illustrates these relationships by using a simple nutrient supplydemand index. With other factors held c~>nstant, REN declines with either increasing fertilizer

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1000 1500 2000

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Fig. 4 Influence of fertilizer N rate (FN, kg ha'), eftective N supply from indigenous sources such as soil, crop residues, manure or water (ISN, kg ha"), and crop N uptake (UN' kg hat) on the range of recovery efficiences (RE) of N from applied fertilizer in irrigated rice. The index F/(1-IS/U) represents a nutrient supply and demand index that detremines how efficiently added nutrients are utilized. [Adapted from Dobermann (2007»)

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TABLE 1. Nitrogen feritlizer recovery by rice and wheat from on-farm mesurements (Cassman et a/., 2002).
Crop Region Number Average N REN,
of farms levels, kg N 0/0
ha' (± SO) (± SO)
Rice Asia - farmers practice 179 117±39 31±18
Asia - field specific mangement 179 112±28 40±18
Wheat India - unfavourable weather 23 145±31 18±11
India - favourable weahter 21 123±20 49±10 TABLE 2. Fertilizer N use efficiency in a typical experiment on irrigated wheat in Punjab to which recommended fertilizer N level of 120 kg N ha' was applied (Souce : Bijay-Singh et a/., 2001).

Fertilizer N level, kg ha'

Fertilizer N recovered in the crop, kg ha' Total N taken up by the crop

N removed in the harvested grain N removed in crop rsidues

Crop recovery efficiency (REN) (52 kg N recovered/120 kg N applied), % Crop removal efficiency (84 kg in grain/120 kg N applied), %

120 52

107 84 23 43 70

N (rate (FN), higher indigenous N supply (ISN), or a smaller crop N sink. For any given level of the index, the range of REN between the minimum and maximum lines represents other factors, including those that can be controlled by better timing of N application or other management factors. Changing only one component through a specific technology will not result in the maximum levels of REN (Dobermann, 2007).

The role of soil nitrogen in the prognosis of fertilizer N demand

According to numerous 15N-tracer investigations cited previously, the extent of overfertilization has been far more serious than under-fertilization because grain N originates largely from the soil rather than fertilizer. With yield based N management strategies, all those factors which promote consumption of N fertilizer, have often been advocated as insurance against the N limitation. So convincing has this rationale been that the input of fertilizer N in most for the intensive cropping systems had surpassed grain N removal and this disparity is likely to be common occurrence in subsequent decades. The fundamental doctrine of N management is to optimize the use efficiency of both applied and native soil N by increasing temporal and spatial synchronization between availability and uptake of N by roots. Improving N-use efficiency in a cropping system requires matching soil N release-whether from organic or inorganic sources - with the demand for N by crop plants. This matching has to occur both temporally and spatially. Most grain crops, for example, are in the field for only 90 :-140 days, and only during 30-40 days these accumulate biomass at a significant rate and it falls to a very low value within the following 2-3 weeks. The long periods during which soil temperature and moisture are sufficient to support microbial N mineralization and atmospheric N deposition may also occur, do not match

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peak N demand of the crop. This asynchrony creates a huge potential for N loss and for low N use efficiency in a system perspective. Spatial heterogeneity at large scales in fields is also emerging as a management issue. This variability exists even after conversion of natural ecosystems to agriculture and constitutes an important factor in most cropping systems. Acheiving high N use efficiency from both the spatial and temporal perspectives is thus an important challenge, and it can only be met by a combination of soil and plant management decisions.

According to Mallory and Griffin (2007), two factors determine how N use efficiency is adversely influenced by the reduced availability of recently added N in a historically amended soil: (i) the magnitude and timing of plant N demand relative to N supply and (ii) the fate of the recently added N not recovered in the inorganic N pool. Creating better coincidence betwen N supply and plant demand is central to improving N use efficiency and tightening the N cycle (Christensen, 2004). Delaying or reducing N availability from added sources in historically amended soils may increase synchorny with plant demand. The fate of applied N not recovered in the N03- pool of repeatedly or historically amended soils depends upon carbon-enhanced immobilization and provides an alternative pathway for NH/. Immobilized NH/ enters the microbial biomass instead of the N03- pool. Loss of applied manure N via denitrification can be another important pathway. Distinguishing between immobilization and denitrification of recently added manure N is not necessary for predicting plant-available N during the first growing season after application, but it is critical for estimating the long-term N supply effects (Lindemann and Cardenas, 1984) as well as the environmental impact of repeated organic manure amendments. While both process reduce current season plant available N, denitrification reusults in net loss of N from the system to the environment. In contrast, immobilization builds the N supply capacity of the soil, reduces potential N losses via leaching, and thereby increases the overall N efficiency of the agricultu.ral system (Christensen, ~004).

Traditionally, soil tillage has been evaluated by the ability to fulfill in cost effective way the functions such as seed bed preparation, control of weeds, incorporation of crop residues, fertilizers and manures, alleviate soil compaction and improvement of water drainage and soil aeration. Tillage also accomplishes functions of importance to soil quality and in recent times effect of tillage on soil organic matter dynamics is attracting more attention. Effect of tillage on soil N turnover, particularly N mineralization, has been reviewed by Silgram and Shepherd (1999). Tillage influences N turnover through changes in aeration and soil moisture, which in turn affect the activity of soil organisms and plant roots. Tillage disrupts macro-aggregates so that particulate soil organic matter protected within aggregates is released and exposed to decomposition. Thus, tilling of soil may lead to temporary increase in net soil N mineralization-immobilization turnover. However, not much is known about the effect of tillage on N turnover within the growth period of crops (Jarvis et a/., 1996; Si/gram and Shepherd, 1999). Distrubance of soil structure due to tillage operations accelerates the N mineralization-mobilization turnover in the soil but quantitative importance of tillage effects on turnover and N supply are not consistent (Silgram and Shepherd, 1999). Intensive soil cultivation can increase N mineralization compared with zero or reduced tillage systems. This increase may be relatively short lived. If fertilizer N application

166

to the crop is not appropriately synchronized with dynamics of flush of mineralized soil N to meet the crop N demand, it can lead to reduced fertilizer N use efficiency and even yield (Table 3).

TABLE 3. Effect of soil tillage on growth and N uptake of sweet corn and feritlizer N recovery efficiency (REN) (Hatanaka and Shiozaki, 1987).

Tillage Dry matter yield N uptake REN
(t ha') (kg N ha') (%)
Shallow rotary tillage to 5 cm depth 9.06 183
Shallow rotary tillage to 10 em depth 7.49 147
Conventional tillage 6.45 134 Strategies to achieve high N use efficiencies by synchronizing soil N supply with fertilizer N application

Fertilizer N use efficiency can be improved by achieving greater synchrony between crop N demand and N supply from all sources throughout the growing season (Cassman et al., 2002). This approach explicitly recognizes the need to efficiently utilize both indigenous soil N and applied N because loss of N via different mechanism increases in proportion to the amount of available N present in the soil at any given time. Decisions regarding improvement in fertilizer N use efficiency will begin at the field scale where farmers need to deal with the variability in soil N, it is important to know the amount and temporal variations of the indigenous N supply during crop growth for determining the optimal timing and amount of fetilizer N application. Since indigenous N supply is highly variable in the same field over time as well as in different fields with a given agro-ecological region (Cassman et al., 2002), accurate predictions are not an easy task. This high degree of variability and very small size of the indigenous soil N supply as one of the key challenges for enhancing fertilizer N-use efficiency. Optimum moisture and temperature, insect and weed management, adequate supply of nutrients other than N and use of best cultivars all contribute to efficient uptake of available N and greater conversion of plant N to grain yield. In other worlds, only a well managed crop can lead to optimum N use efficiency and profit from applied N along with least possible N losses to the environment by maintaining plant available N pool at the minimum size required to meet crop N requirement at each stage of gr.owth.

Most of the fertilizer N is lost during the year of application. Consequently, N and crop management must be fine-tuned in the cropping season in which N is applied. Two broad categories of concepts and tools have been developed to increase N use efficiency. Those in the first category include genetic improvement and management factors that remove restrictions on crop growth arid enhance crop N demand and uptake. Management options that influence the availability of soil and fertilizer-N for plant uptake come in the second category. These include site specific N application rates to account for differences in within-field variation in soil N supply capacity (in large fields), field specific N application rates in small fields, remote sensing or canopy N status sensors to quantify real-time crop N status, better capabilities to predict soil N supply capacity, controlled release fertilizers

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and fertigation. Use of chlorophyll meters and simple and inexpensive leaf colour chart can assist farmers in applying N when the plant needs it and soil N supply is not sufficient. As the use of chlorophyll meter and leaf colour chart can adequately take care of N supply from all indigenous sources, it ensures significant increase in REN and reduced fertilizer N use (Bijay-Singh et al., 2002; Yadvinder-Singh et al., 2007, Varinderpal Singh et al., 2007). Leaf colour chart is particularly useful for small to medium size farms in developing countries. Similarly, precision farming technologies based on gadgets like optimal sensors have demonstrated that variable rate N-fertilizer application has the potential to significantly enhance N use efficiency by corps like rice and wheat.

Modern N management concepts usually involve a combination of anticipatory (before planting) and responsive (during the growing season) decisions. Improved synchrony, for example, can be achieved by more accurate N prescriptions based on the projected crop N demand and the levels of mineral and organic soil N, but also through improved rules for splitting of N application according to phenological stages, by using decision aids to diagnose soil and plant N status during the growing season (mdoels, sensors), or by using controlled-release fertilizers or inhibitors. Important prerequisites for the adoption of advanced N management technologies are that they must be simple, provide consistent and large enough gains in fertilizer N use efficiency, involve little extra labour and be costeffective.

Uncertainties in soil N supply and crop N demand present a challenge to farmers deciding on N fertilizer rates. While field studies have documented the improvement in N use efficiency possible with site-specific N management approaches which take into account these uncertainties, a general understanding of the importance of uncertainty across a wide range of cropping systems, is yet to emerge. Lobell (2007) found that eliminating uncertainty in soil N supply (but not crop demand) would reduce average N rates by - 5-15% in typical irrigated rice systems, 10-30% in wheat, and 20-40% in maize. A better knowledge of potential crop N demand (but not soil supply, would reduce rates by - 3-10% in all systems. Analysis carried out by Lobell (2007) further revealed that simultaneous knowledge of both factors significantly reduced N rate by more than the sum of their individual effects, reflecting important interactions between supply and demand uncertainties. Site-specific N management can thus lead to substantial reduction in N rates without yield loss in a wid.e range of cropping systems, thereby improving profitability and environmental quality.

Conclusion

To sustain high crop yields to meet growing food demand while simultaneously reducing environmental impact on agriculture will require substantial improvement in fertilizer N use efficiency. A substantial reduction in fertilizer N usage and increase in fertilizer N use efficiencies can be achieved by accounting for the capacity of the soil to supply plant available N. Across a wide range of growing conditions, information to reduce uncertainty in crop N demand and soil N supply can contribute substantially to reducing fertilizer application rates and the associated economic and environmental costs. Whether N is applied as mineral fertilizer or through organic manures and crop residues, the mineralization-mobilization turnover in the soil has to be accounted for quantitatively. A

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large proportion of the N eventually recovered by the plants comes from mineralization of soil N.

Knowing and managing the N supply from soil and managing fertilizer N application so as to synchronize and synlocate with soil N supply to meet the crop N demand is the key to enhance fertilizer N use efficiencies beyond the level achieved through using blanket recommendation for large tracts or regions. Soil and fetilizer N can be managed for better congruence with crop N needs through site-specific prescription alongorithms, improved timing of N application, more efficient fertilizer N application methods, more efficient fertilizers and appropriate crop residue and organic manure management for sustaining high level of indigenous soil N supply. The recovery of N by crop plants depends upon the proportion of inorganic and organic N in different N sources, and the chemical and physical properties of the soil organic N fraction. Besides, time of N application and distribution of N above or in the soil, the time and intensity of soil tillage affect the efficiency by which N is utilized in the cropping system. Modern concepts for practical N management should involve a combination of anticipatory (before planting) and responsive (during the growing season) decisions. Crop-based approaches for in-season N management are now becoming widely available, ranging from simple tools such as a leaf colour chart to crop simulation models or sophisticated on-the-go sensing and variable rate N application systems.

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