A review of methods for sensing the nitrogen status in plants: advantages, disadvantages and recent advances - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Aug 16;13(8):10823-43.
doi: 10.3390/s130810823.

A review of methods for sensing the nitrogen status in plants: advantages, disadvantages and recent advances

Rafael F Muñoz-Huerta  1 , Ramon G Guevara-Gonzalez, Luis M Contreras-Medina, Irineo Torres-Pacheco, Juan Prado-Olivarez, Rosalia V Ocampo-Velazquez
Affiliations
Review

A review of methods for sensing the nitrogen status in plants: advantages, disadvantages and recent advances

Rafael F Muñoz-Huerta et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) plays a key role in the plant life cycle. It is the main plant mineral nutrient needed for chlorophyll production and other plant cell components (proteins, nucleic acids, amino acids). Crop yield is affected by plant N status. Thus, the optimization of nitrogen fertilization has become the object of intense research due to its environmental and economic impact. This article focuses on reviewing current methods and techniques used to determine plant N status. Kjeldahl digestion and Dumas combustion have been used as reference methods for N determination in plants, but they are destructive and time consuming. By using spectroradiometers, reflectometers, imagery from satellite sensors and digital cameras, optical properties have been measured to estimate N in plants, such as crop canopy reflectance, leaf transmittance, chlorophyll and polyphenol fluorescence. High correlation has been found between optical parameters and plant N status, and those techniques are not destructive. However, some drawbacks include chlorophyll saturation, atmospheric and soil interference, and the high cost of instruments. Electrical properties of plant tissue have been used to estimate quality in fruits, and water content in plants, as well as nutrient deficiency, which suggests that they have potential for use in plant N determination.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Methods for plant nitrogen sensing.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Kjeldahl wet digestion procedure.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Dumas combustion procedure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Sinfield J.V., Fagerman D., Colic O. Evaluation of sensing technologies for on-the-go detection of macro-nutrients in cultivated soils. Comput. Electron. Agric. 2010;70:1–18.
    1. Hoffland E., Dicke M., van Tintelen W., Dijkman H., van Beusichem M.L. Nitrogen availability and defense of tomato against two-spotted spider mite. J. Chem. Ecol. 2000;26:2697–2711.
    1. Tremblay N., Fallon E., Ziadi N. Sensing of crop nitrogen status: Opportunities, tools, limitations, and supporting information requirements. Hort Technol. 2011;21:274–281.
    1. Taiz L., Zeiger E. Plant Physiology. 5th ed. Sinauer Associates Inc.; Sunderland, MA, USA: 2010. pp. 67–86.
    1. Vigneau N., Ecarnot M., Rabatel G., Roumet P. Potential of field hyperspectral imaging as a non destructive method to assess leaf nitrogen content in Wheat. Field Crop. Res. 2011;122:25–31.

Publication types