When crops are harvested, the nutrient in the harvested biomass is removed from the production system. Traditionally, nitrogen – one of the major plant nutrients – is added back through nitrogen fertilisers.
However, Australian growers have faced rising nitrogen fertiliser costs for some years due to availability issues and market volatility. To alleviate this, growers are increasingly focusing on nutrient use efficiency using organic, rather than synthetic, nutrient sources such as organic amendments or including nitrogen-fixing crops such as legumes in their rotations.
This fact sheet provides a worked through example for calculating nitrogen use efficiency and information on how alternative nitrogen sources can improve it.
