Quantifying and Understanding Plant Nitrogen Uptake for Systems Modeling

Discusses New Advancements to Improve Existing Simulations of Plant Nitrogen

Written by research pioneers and leading scientists in the area of agricultural systems, Quantifying and Understanding Plant Nitrogen Uptake for Systems Modeling comprehensively covers plant N uptake in agricultural system models, especially for building soil-plant system models.

The text illustrates how to minimize the transportation of nitrogen fertilizers in crop production to surface and ground waters, as even moderate errors in uptake estimations lead to a dramatic increase in the amount of nitrogen leached into groundwater. It also highlights the knowledge gaps preventing correct simulation of this process and explains what to look for when using a system model and interpreting simulation results.

Applies to a Variety of Crops, Including Oilseed, Wheat, Potatoes, and Maize

Addressing quantification and synthesis in the context of system modeling, this text introduces cutting-edge and original information regarding N uptake not previously offered by other research texts in the field. This, in turn, benefits scientists, professors, system modelers, and model users in interpreting modeling results for enhancing nitrogen management and developing decision support tools.

This volume documents, with complex, detailed models, plant N uptake based on absorption kinetics of transporters across the root cell membranes, mass flow, and diffusion to the root surface of single or composite roots. It also provides simpler models used in N uptake simulations at the field and watershed scales.

Discusses All Areas of the Complex Process

In addition to the important processes of nitrogen translocation, remobilization, and grain protein formation, the book documents various philosophies, mechanisms, and scales in simul

Liwang Ma is a soil scientist with the USDA-ARS, Agricultural Systems Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colorado. Dr. Ma received his B.S. and M.S. in agricultural biophysics from Beijing Agricultural University (now China Agricultural University) in 1984 and 1987, respectively, and his Ph.D. in soil science from Louisiana State University in 1993. He has authored and coauthored 70 journal papers and 50 other published works (books, book chapters, and proceedings). His research interests center on agricultural systems modeling and include pesticide fates, plant growth, soil carbon/nitrogen dynamics, plant water and nitrogen uptake, and soil water and nutrient movement. He is the principal scientist responsible for developing, enhancing, and maintaining the USDA-ARS Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM2). He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and has served as an associate editor of the Journal of the Soil Science Society of America (2001–2007). He is now serving as associate editor of the Agronomy Journal and the Journal of Environmental Quality. Lajpat (Laj) R. Ahuja is a supervisory soil scientist and research leader of the USDAARS, Agricultural Systems Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colorado. He has made original and pioneering research contributions in several areas of agricultural systems, including infiltration and water flow in soils, estimation and scaling of hydraulic properties, transport of agrochemicals to runoff and to groundwater through soil matrix and macropores, quantification of the effects of tillage and other management practices on relevant properties and processes, and modeling of entire agricultural systems and application of system models in field research and technology transfer. Dr. Ahuja has authored or coauthored 270 publications and served as associate editor (1987–1992) and technical editor (1994–1996) of the Journal of the Soil Science Society of America. He is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), the Ameri