TY - CHAP

T1 - Use

T2 - What is needed to Support Sustainability?

AU - Mikkelsen, Robert L.

AU - Binder, Claudia R.

AU - Frossard, Emmanuel

AU - Brand, Fridolin S.

AU - Scholz, Roland W.

AU - Vilsmaier, Ulli

PY - 2014/1/1

Y1 - 2014/1/1

N2 - Increased demands for agricultural output per unit of land area must be met in a way that encourages improved efficiency and better stewardship of natural resources, including phosphate rock. Modern crops remove between 5 and 35 kg P/ha, with P removal exceeding 45 kg P/ha for high-yielding maize. In situations such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where soil fertility is low and P removal exceeds average inputs of 2 kg P/ha/year, the resulting nutrient depletion severely restricts yields (e.g., maize yields < 1,000 kg/ha/year) and accelerates soil degradation. In other regions, excessive P inputs produce economic inefficiencies and increase the risk of P loss, with negative environmental consequences. During the year of application, plants recover 15–25 % of the added P, with the remaining fraction converting to less soluble forms or residual P which becomes plant available over time. Improving P efficiency requires a balance between the imperatives to produce more food while minimizing P losses. Utilizing transdisciplinary approaches, a number of social, economic, and environmental goals can be simultaneously achieved if progress is made toward short- and long-term food security and global P sustainability. This chapter provides an overview of efforts to improve P use efficiency in agriculture ranging from promising germplasm, improved crop, and soil management scenarios, additives in animal diets to reduce P inputs and surplus P in the manure, and opportunities for P recycling in food and household waste. Challenges and opportunities associated with each option are discussed and transdisciplinary case studies outlined.

AB - Increased demands for agricultural output per unit of land area must be met in a way that encourages improved efficiency and better stewardship of natural resources, including phosphate rock. Modern crops remove between 5 and 35 kg P/ha, with P removal exceeding 45 kg P/ha for high-yielding maize. In situations such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where soil fertility is low and P removal exceeds average inputs of 2 kg P/ha/year, the resulting nutrient depletion severely restricts yields (e.g., maize yields < 1,000 kg/ha/year) and accelerates soil degradation. In other regions, excessive P inputs produce economic inefficiencies and increase the risk of P loss, with negative environmental consequences. During the year of application, plants recover 15–25 % of the added P, with the remaining fraction converting to less soluble forms or residual P which becomes plant available over time. Improving P efficiency requires a balance between the imperatives to produce more food while minimizing P losses. Utilizing transdisciplinary approaches, a number of social, economic, and environmental goals can be simultaneously achieved if progress is made toward short- and long-term food security and global P sustainability. This chapter provides an overview of efforts to improve P use efficiency in agriculture ranging from promising germplasm, improved crop, and soil management scenarios, additives in animal diets to reduce P inputs and surplus P in the manure, and opportunities for P recycling in food and household waste. Challenges and opportunities associated with each option are discussed and transdisciplinary case studies outlined.

KW - Transdisciplinary studies

KW - Phosphorus and the food chain

KW - Integrated nutrient management

KW - Phosphorus recovery

KW - Phosphorus losses from use

KW - Improving access to phosphorus

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Phosphorus and the food chain

KW - Integrated nutrient management

KW - Phosphorus recovery

KW - Phosphorus losses from use

KW - Improving access to phosphorus

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84948103800&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-94-007-7250-2_5

DO - 10.1007/978-94-007-7250-2_5

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-94-007-7249-6

SN - 978-94-024-0246-9

SP - 207

EP - 246

BT - Sustainable Phosphorus Management

A2 - Scholz, R.W.

A2 - Roy, A.H.

A2 - Brand, F.S.

A2 - Hellums, D.T.

A2 - Ulrich, A.E.

PB - Springer Netherlands

CY - Dordrecht

ER -