Perspective on Wheat Yield and Quality with Reduced Nitrogen Supply

• Published in: Trends in plant science 2018-11, Vol.23 (11), p.1029-1037
• Main Authors: Zörb, Christian, Ludewig, Uwe, Hawkesford, Malcolm J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crops, Agricultural - metabolism; environment; Genotype; nitrogen; Nitrogen - metabolism; nitrogen use efficiency; NUE; quality; Triticum - metabolism; wheat; yield
• ISSN: 1360-1385; 1878-4372
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2018.08.012

Wheat is an important cereal crop with a high demand for nitrogen (N) fertilizer to enable the grain protein accumulation that is necessary for baking and processing quality. Here, perspectives for the development of improved wheat genotypes with higher yield stability, better grain quality, and improved N use efficiency to lower environmental impacts are discussed. The development of improved wheat genotypes, for example, genotypes that lack storage proteins that do not contribute to baking quality (e.g., by genome editing), in combination with appropriate N fertilizer management to prevent N losses into the environment underpins a novel approach to improving N use efficiency. This approach may be particularly applicable to wheats grown for animal feed, which have lower quality and functionality requirements. Wheat production has been criticized because of a Janus-faced nature for the use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer: it beneficially produces high quality and/or high yields but also has potential negative environmental impacts. Crop production and N management therefore present a sustainability dilemma. A high N application is obligatory because high wheat protein content is important for baking quality, but simultaneously, high N may cause environmental N pollution via leaching or gaseous N losses. Solutions involve both the optimization of the management of N fertilizer and breeding strategies to improve N use efficiency of the crops. A conventional but relatively easily achievable solution would be improving yield stability as a critical factor to improve N use efficiency. A novel approach may be to manipulate wheat grain N demand by selectively reducing some storage proteins to help reduce N fertilizer inputs.