Same with less: a method to reduce destructive sampling to estimate nitrogen use efficiency components using allometric relationships in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum)
Lorena Guardia-Velarde
A * , Jonathan E. Cope A , Holger Metzler B , Anna Westerbergh C and Martin Weih A
A
B
C
Abstract
Enhancing nitrogen (N) use efficiency is important for a sustainable food production. Measuring shoot biomass and N pool across growth stages is critical to calculate N use efficiency, but relies on slow, costly and destructive sampling. This paper presents a non-destructive allometric approach developed for cereals; in this study, we assessed wheat (Triticum aestivum) for crop shoot biomass and N pool. Our methodology considered tiller height and number, and the estimates of leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD) as non-destructive measures to predict shoot biomass and N pool by using a multiple linear and a non-linear regression (R2 = 0.71 and R2 = 0.89, respectively) on the data from 72 samples of 16 recombinant inbred spring wheat lines (RILs) field-grown in central Sweden during 2 years with contrasting weather. Model parameters are estimated separately for different years to accommodate environmental variations between them. The regressions obtained were applied to estimate critical N use efficiency traits of 80 randomly selected wheat lines from the same RIL population. The method developed here provides a promising novel tool for the cost-effective estimation of critical N use efficiency parameters in cereals, with reduced destructive sampling, and a first step toward automated phenotyping for rapid N use efficiency assessment in cereal breeding populations.
Keywords: allometry, crop modelling, grain nitrogen concentration, nitrogen accumulation efficiency, plant height, shoot biomass, SPAD, wheat.
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