“More ammonium” in farmlands is key to mitigate nitrogen pollution and boost crop yields

　JIRCAS, in collaboration with the School of Public and International Affair, Princeton University in the USA, has proposed “ammonium-based solutions” to reduce nitrogen pollution and improve crop productivity. The "use of ammonium" also infers utilization of biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) and application of synthetic nitrification inhibitors (SNI) in production agriculture. By retaining and utilizing soil-N as ammonium reduces nitrogen leakage while improving crop productivity. Soil-ammonium does not move out of farm-lands (unlike nitrate) or can’t produce nitrous oxide (N2O) (unlike nitrates), the powerful greenhouse gas (which is 310 times potent than CO2) emitted from agricultural soils. While SNI is a known technology to control soil-nitrification , JIRCAS has focused on BNI-technology to control soil-nitrifier activity and soil-nitrate levels. JIRCAS has established an International BNI Consortium with 17 organizations and provide leadership in leading and promoting BNI research worldwide. BNI has the potential to overcome the limitations of SNI and to improve NUE of food production systems by combining BNI-capacity in root systems with an ability to  utilize ammonium. The effective utilization of ammonium in the global food production system is expected to be a new solution to reduce nitrogen pollution and increase food production.

　This ‘opinion’ article is published in the 1st June issue of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA), one of the most prestigious journals in the world (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107576118).

Related Information

Budget

“BNI-system” : Development of planet-friendly agricultural production system using biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) technology

Reference

Keeping More Ammonium in Soil Could Decrease Pollution, Boost Crops（Princeton University）

Authors

GV Subbarao and Timothy D Searchinger

Title

A "more ammonium solution" that mitigates nitrogen pollution, boosts crop yields

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of United States of America (PNAS), 
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107576118

IRCAS President : KOYAMA Osamu
Program Director : HAYASHI Keiichi     
Researchers-in-charge : SUBBARAO Guntur (Crop, Livestock and Environment Division)  and YOSHIHASHI Tadashi (Biological Resources and Post-harvest Division)
Press Coordinator：OMORI Keisuke (Head, Information and Public Relations Office)  
E-mail：koho-jircas@ml.affrc.go.jp