Researchers Show New Wheat Varieties with Higher Yields

Wheat production has high environmental costs despite being one of the world's most important grains. This is due to wheat's need for nitrogen fertilizer. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) have determined that new wheat varieties could produce better yields with the same amount of nitrogen fertilizer.

Finding the right amount of nitrogen fertilizer for wheat crops has always been a challenge. If too little is applied, it is completely used up, but the harvest does not meet its full potential. If too much is used, the harvest is good but the growing grain does not consume all of the fertilizer, with the surplus nitrogen finding its way into the environment and damages ecosystems and the climate.

To overcome these challenges, Senthold Asseng, a professor of Digital Agriculture at TUM, Pierre Martre (INRAE), and other researchers investigated new wheat cultivars still in the experimental stages. Using data from five experimental fields representing global wheat producing regions with particularly high yields, the researchers used a simulation model with other fields and analyzed wheat under three climate scenarios: the present climate conditions, global warming of 1 degree Celsius, and 4.8 degrees Celsius.

The results showed the yields that can be expected from the tested varieties when different quantities of nitrogen fertilizer are applied. The researchers showed that new wheat cultivars achieve 16 percent higher yields under current climate conditions than those now used if the same quantities of fertilizer are applied. Through improved utilization of nitrogen, the ecological footprint is reduced. However, the team also showed that overall nitrogen needs will increase in the course of global warming if the full yield potential of the plants is to be achieved.

For more details, read the news article in TUM News and Events.