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Same with less: A method to reduce destructive sampling to estimate nitrogen use efficiency components using allometric relationships in spring wheat

Lorena Guardia-Velarde , Jonathan Edward Cope , Holger Metzler, Anna Westerbergh, Martin Weih

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 (here wheat) for assessing crop shoot biomass and N pool. The methodology considers 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 two 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.

FP24201  Accepted 15 April 2025

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