Advances in optimizing potassium-use efficiency in crop production

Publication date: 17/02/2020
Extent: 34 pages

Contributions by: Kaushik Majumdar, African Plant Nutrition Institute and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco; Meenu Rani, formerly ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, India; T. Scott Murrell, African Plant Nutrition Institute and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco and Purdue University, USA; Sudarshan Dutta, African Plant Nutrition Institute and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco; T. Satyanarayana, formerly International Plant Nutrition Institute, India; V. K. Singh, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India; Jagadish Timsina, University of Melbourne, Australia and CIMMYT, Bangladesh; and B. S. Dwivedi, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India

Chapter synopsis: Potassium-use efficiency (KUE) is the outcome of a complex interaction among crop internal physiology, the environment and the management practices imposed on the production system. Four metrics of KUE are discussed: partial factor productivity (PFPK), partial nutrient balance (PNBK), agronomic efficiency (AEK), and recovery efficiency (REK). The chapter also explores genetic modifications to increase KUE by either improving the efficiency of K acquisition from the soil, improving the efficiency with which K is used by the plant to produce harvestable biomass, or both. The chapter also reviews management of K inputs, such as fertilizer form, fertilizer rate, fertilizer placement and application timing, all of which can all affect KUE. Crop management also impacts KUE. Both intra- and interspecic variations in KUE exist, and it may be possible to sequence crops in such a way that species with greater access to non-exchangeable soil K may increase the exchangeable soil K supply and thereby benefit crops with less access to non-exchangeable K.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2019.0062.11