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The dynamics of nitrogen uptake and its remobilization during the growth of sugar beet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

M. J. Armstrong ,
G. F. J. Milford ,
T. O. Pocock ,
P. J. Last  and
W. Day
M. J. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Broom's Barn Experimental Station, Higham, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 6NP1
G. F. J. Milford
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 2JQ
T. O. Pocock
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 2JQ
P. J. Last
Affiliation:
Broom's Barn Experimental Station, Higham, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 6NP1
W. Day
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 2JQ
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Summary

The uptake and distribution of N were examined in a series of sugar-beet crops grown on different sites (Broom's Barn, Suffolk and Trefloyne, Dyfed) or with 0 (No) or 125 kg N/ha (N125) between 1978 and 1982. Depletion of soil N was followed in some years. Initial rates of N uptake in spring for the N125 crops at Broom's Barn ranged from 2·3 kg/ha per day in 1980 to 5·8 kg/ha per day in 1981 and 1982 and at Trefloyne from 4·7 kg/ha per day in 1980 to 5·4 kg/ha per day in 1979. The initial phase of N uptake in No crops was shorter and at Broom's Barn the rate ranged from 1·6 kg/ha per day in 1979 to 5·1 kg/ha per day in 1982. Crops with high initial uptake rates had somewhat greater shoot N concentrations. There was no relation between the initial uptake rates or the total N uptake and the amounts of mineral N in the soil at the start of rapid growth in June. Simulations of early crop growth coupled with analysis of changes in the total N in the crop-plus-soil system showed that the rate of N uptake by the N125 crops was regulated by crop demand for N as determined by growth rate in 4 of the years and by soil supply in the 5th. The analysis of the crop-plus-soil N also showed that substantial losses of N occurred when the crop was actively growing in June and July in 1979 and 1980 due to excessive rainfall following early irrigations. There were serious consequences for N uptake, N concentration in developing leaves and the overall growth of these crops.

N uptake rates in autumn ranged from no net uptake in 1979 and 1980 to 0·6 kg/ha per day in the other 3 years at Broom's Barn and 1·0 kg/ha per day at Trefloyne. Large amounts of N were remobilized from the shoot to sustain the growth of the storage root in years when uptakes from the soil in autumn were small. Remobilized N represented 80, 50 and 30% of the net increase in storage-root N between the end of August and harvest in 1979, 1980 and 1981 respectively. The amounts remobilized from shoots ranged from 8 to 18 kg N/ha and may therefore also represent a source of amino-N impurities in harvested beet. An analysis of N in individual leaves showed that remobilized N probably originated from leaf protein and that remobilization started at full expansion rather than at the onset of leaf senescence, which was often many weeks later.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 107 , Issue 1 , August 1986 , pp. 145 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

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