Concepción, 21 March 2023

Nutrient Balance and Soil Quality

in Agroecosystems
Fernando O. García
fgarcia1957@gmail.com
@garciaf_nutri
 Why nutrient balance and
soil quality/health?
• Soils are involved in most of SDGs
• One Health: soil + plants + animals +
humans + environment (Lal, 2021)
• Soils and human health: food
production, C sequestration,
detoxification, water and nutrient
retention, biodiversity (Brevik et al.,
2020).
Outline
• Introduction: Some definitions and scope
• Field crop systems of South America
• Soil quality/health status, threats and challenges
• Nutrient balances at different countries/regions
• Management to maintain/improve soil health and
nutrient balances
What is Soil Quality/Health?

“the ability of the soil to sustain

the productivity, diversity, and
environmental services of
terrestrial ecosystems”

Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils

(ITPS, 2020)
Soil fertility
• … is the ability of a soil to sustain the
growth of plants by providing essential
nutrients and favorable chemical, physical
and biological characteristics as a habitat
for their growth (FAO, 2019)

FAO (2019,2022)
Indicators of nutrient use efficiency
(Dobermann, 2007; Norton et al., 2015)
Typical levels for N
Indice Estimation
(maize or wheat)
10-30
Agronomic efficiency (AE) (Y-Y0)/F
kg grain/kg nutrient

30-50%
Recovery efficiency (RE) (U-U0)/F
∆ kg nutrient uptake/kg applied nutrient
Partial Productivity Factor 40-80
Y/F
(PPF) kg grain/kg nutrient
>1.00 = Deficit
Partial Nutrient Balance
R/F <1.00 = Excess
(PNB)
kg grain nutrient /kg nutrient
Y= yield, F = fertilization, R = removal, U= uptake

scale and objective use of the index … always an output/input ratio

 Impacts of nutrient balances

FAO (2022)
 South America soils and agroecosystems
Amazonas

Andes
Main soil health challenges
Erosion - Ecuador
M. Ramos
(highlands
and valleys)
• Wind and water erosion
Expansion into fragile ecosystems
Cerrados • Soil organic matter (SOM)
“Chaqueos” at Bolivia
F. Garcia
depletion
South central
Brazil
Erosion
Alto Paraná, Paraguay
K. Moriya, 2011 • Nutrient losses
Great Chaco
• Soil compaction
Salinization Uruguay
Santa Cruz, Bolivia Río de la
M. S. Viera, 2014 Plata

Central valleys
Argentina

Pampas
of Chile Océano
Atlántico
• Salinization
• Biodiversity losses
Compaction Eutrophication
G. Cordone y G. Gerster Rio de la Plata
INTA Casilda y Roldán, 2005 L. Carrasco, 2015

Volcanic soils of • Contamination

WRB, FAO (2014)
southern Chile
Expansion into fragile ecosystems
Carmen de Patagones, Argentina
D. Iurman, INTA Ascasubi, 2009
Soil nutrient budgets per cropland area, 2018

FAOSTAT Soil nutrient budget, 2021

Removal to Application Ratio (PNB) for N, P, and K at Argentina, Bolivia,
Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and comparison with other countries
Application Ratio (PNB)
(BPN)

5.0 N P K
to Remoción/Aplicación

4.0

3.0

2.0
Relación

Removal > Application

Removal

1.0
Application > Removal
0.0
Argentina Bolivia Brasil Paraguay Uruguay Australia Canada EE.UU.
US

Elaborated from Fertilizar AC and Minagro (2017-19), FAOSTAT, ANAPO, da Cunha et al. (2018), Causarano (2017),
update 2020 from Mancassola and Casanova (2015), Edis et al. (2012), NuGIS-IPNI (2012)
… how are Nitrogen Use Efficiencies (NUE) in maize …
NUE 90% = PPF 80 kg grain/kg N

Soil degradation risk

Maximum excess 80 kg N
Maize yield (kg/ha)

eal”
“Id NUE 60% = PPF 50 kg grain/kg N

Argentina Chile
Paraguay
Brasil Uruguay NUE 30% = PPF 25 kg grain/kg N
México Contamination risk
Perú
Bolivia

N rate (kg/ha)
Adapted from EU Nitrogen Expert Panel (2015)
NUE30 NUE60 NUE90

Partial Productivity Factor of N (PPF-N) = Yield / N rate

 Pillars of sustainable soil management for improved soil health
Rotations + No-tillage + Cover crops + Balanced nutrition
Soil organic carbon as the comprehensive soil health/quality indicator
Rotations/cropping intensity No-tillage
• Crop diversity • Minimum disturbance
• Pasture/crop rotations • Reduce erosion
• Santa Fe system, agriculture/livestock integration • Soil C increases and stratification
• Improved soil microbial biomass and activity

Cover crops Balanced nutrition

• Root and microbial diversity • Improved yields
• Improved soil structure • Improved soil carbon
• N fixation • Improved soil microbial biomass and activity
• Reduce erosion
• Weed control

Studdert et al., 1997; Studdert and Echeverria, 2000; Ernst and Siri-Prieto, 2009; Novelli et al., 2013; Sá et al., 2014, 2017; Nunes
et al., 2020; Carvalho et al., 2021; Gabbarini et al., 2021; Nicoloso and Rice, 2021; Rui et al., 2022; Mikha and Marake, 2022;
Pires et al., 2023
 Rotations + Balanced nutrition
Long-term experiment at INIA La Estanzuela (Uruguay)

33% Ag 66% Past

Accumulated grain yield (Mg/ha)

Soil Organic Carbon (g/kg)

Cont ag Fert

Cont ag

Cont ag Cont ag 33% Ag

Fert 66% Past
Agricultural diversification and intensification lead to 30% higher crop
yields and 19% greater SOC Grahmann et al., 2020
 Carbon restoration by no-till cropping systems in oxisolls of Brazil
Sá et a. (2015)
Cropping intensity + No-tillage
3.5 Sequestered C = 0.423 + 0.165 C ” … NT cropping systems with
R² = 0.83
3.0 p = 0.0006
high C input have a large
potential to
Annual C gain (Mg ha-1)

2.5 reverse the process of soil

2.0
degradation and SOC decline.”

1.5

1.0

0.5 Brachiaria and other cover crops

Santa Cruz, Bolivia
0.0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0
Annual C input (Mg ha-1)

Sá, et al., Land Degradation and Development, 2015

Improving nutrient balances: Effects on yields and soil health in long-term experiments
Bulk density tend to decrease under
Balanced NPS nutrition contributes 15% to 47% to balanced NPS nutrition
crop yields in the central Pampas of Argentina
1.5 Balducchi - Teodelina, Santa Fe
3%

Bulk density (g cm -3)

N P S NPS NPS+Micros 1.4
FS 7%
6% 1.3
Soybean 15%
15% 1.2
6%
DC 12% 1.1
14%
Soybean 27% 1
29% 2003 2012 2021
25% Reference Check NPS
26%
Wheat 9% 1.5
47% La Blanca - A. Ledesma, Córdoba
51%

Bulk density (g cm-3)

1.4
25%
10% 1.3
Maize 9%
40% 1.2
41%
Relative response (%) 1.1

1
2003 2012 2021
Reference Check NPS

Nutrition network CREA Southern Santa Fe (2000-19) – García et al. (2022, 2023)
 Would balanced nutrition always improve yield and soil health/quality?
Conceptual relationships between N fertilizer input and maize yield, residue production, and
residual soil inorganic N

High nutrient use efficiency Low nutrient use efficiency

AONR = Agronomic Optimum Nitrogen Rate

Poffenbarger et al. (2017) - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0172293

Improving soil health through a systemic and integral
approach to soil fertility…
üDecoupling ag production from externalities
Intensification and Diversification
Corn
Gaseous Environmental
Emissions Services
Microbial Soil Soybean Soybean
Activity Structure
Wheat
Water Oats Oats
Soil Erosion
Biodiversity &
Availability

Soil
Organic
Carbon
Soil carbon pool

Nutrient Plant Growth

Crop Continuous Active Pool Slow physical, chemical and
Cycling Yield Residues C Flux Pool Passive biological properties
Pool

Sustainability

Organic Bulk Density; MBC e MBN; C; DpH;

compounds SOC and N humic CTC; P e
pools compounds K

Rice (2018) Adapted from Moraes Sá and Rice

Conceptual model of Soil Quality Index (SQI) in BioAS
β-Glicosidase
Biological SQI = Nutrient
cycling Arilsulfatase

Soil organic matter

SQI Nutrient storage
Fertbio CEC
Chemical
SQI
Acidity (H+Al, Al+3)
Nutrient Supply of K, Ca, Mg,
supply cation saturation
P supply
I. C. Mendes et al., 2021 Value from 0 to 1
Thank you!
Fernando O. García
fgarcia1957@gmail.com
@garciaf_nutri