AgroNum™ uses generic, plot-specific, nitrogen response curves applicable to all grain bearing non-Fabaceae field-crops across Europe.
Again, farmers need only indicate the plot’s centermost GPS coordinates, along with their target nitrogen yield, or “offtake” ; the corresponding sustainable N-fertilizer application rate will be recommended. And vice versa, a desired N-fertilization rate triggers the corresponding sustainable nitrogen-yield recommendation.
By sustainable is meant nitrogen target yields and/or fertilizer application rates that lead to intermediate nitrogen fertilizer use efficiencies (NfUE), i.e. neither too low, nor too high, and thus conducive to SOM conservation, or even build-up on carbon-depleted soils.
Implemented as plot-specific N-fertilizer response curves, AgroNum™ provides both sustainable RDN N-grain target yields and their corresponding TUN N-fertilizer application rates. This approach to fertilizer management is very ergonomic for the user since only a minimal dataset is uploaded, and interoperable with all precision agriculture & in-season weather monitoring technologies.
Scientifically, AgroNum™ is based on the widely recognized bimodality of SOC dynamics with respect to RUN N-fertilizer use efficiency (NfUE). To render this bimodality operational, a series of rational adjustments are proposed. The resulting plot specific sustainable yield references, rRSQ_run, can then be predicted using AgroNum™’s core AI boosting algorithm, and compared to observed RSQ_run to determine the sustainability of the cropping practice.
Of the approximately 32 000 cropping practices screened across Europe, 10% or so were deemed sustainable as understood and retained as the training dataset. In the process, such N-fertilizer response curves are generated at the plot level using a novel concept - the N-fertilizer requirement of the cropping practice per se – a_AgroNum (aAgroNum).
