Variable rate nitrogen fertilizer response in wheat using remote sensing

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer application can lead to increased crop yields but its use efficiency remains generally low which can cause environmental problems related to nitrate leaching as well as nitrous oxide emissions to the atmosphere. The objectives of this study were to: (i) to demonstrate that properly identified variable rates of N fertilizer lead to higher use efficiency and (ii) to evaluate the capability of high spectral resolution satellite to detect within-field crop N response using vegetation indices. This study evaluated three N fertilizer rates (30, 70, and 90 kg N ha⁻¹) and their response on durum wheat yield across the field. Fertilizer rates were identified through the adoption of the SALUS crop model, in addition to a spatial and temporal analysis of observed wheat grain yield maps. Hand-held and high spectral resolution satellite remote sensing data were collected before and after a spring side dress fertilizer application with FieldSpec, HandHeld Pro® and RapidEye™, respectively. Twenty-four vegetation indices were compared to evaluate yield performance. Stable zones within the field were defined by analyzing the spatial stability of crop yield of the previous 5 years (Basso et al. in Eur J Agron 51: 5, 2013). The canopy chlorophyll content index (CCCI) discriminated crop N response with an overall accuracy of 71 %, which allowed assessment of the efficiency of the second N application in a spatial context across each management zone. The CCCI derived from remotely sensed images acquired before and after N fertilization proved useful in understanding the spatial response of crops to N fertilization. Spectral data collected with a handheld radiometer on 100 grid points were used to validate spectral data from remote sensing images in the same locations and to verify the efficacy of the correction algorithms of the raw data. This procedure was presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the satellite data when compared to the handheld data. Variable rate N increased nitrogen use efficiency with differences that can have significant implication to the N₂O emissions, nitrate leaching, and farmer’s profit.