Location: Soil Plant Nutrient Research (SPNR)
Title: Climate change, agricultural adaptation and mitigation, and using the nitrogen index to increase nitrogen use efficiency Author
Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: January 14, 2014
Publication Date: N/A
Interpretive Summary: The Mexico Nitrogen Index have been expanded and improved with an N2O index and a phosphorous index, and has also been improved to include recommendations for nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium fertilizer applications. Version 4.5 of the Nitrogen Index is expected to be released sometime in November/December 2013 (metric and English units). It is also expected that version 4.5 of the Nitrogen Index smartphone for Android™ systems will be released soon afterwards. The Mexico Nitrogen Index has been calibrated and validated for the Laguna Comarquera of Mexico by INIFAP. During the last year we have conducted three different workshops in Mexico with participants from different regions of the country who have found the tool easy to use and that it has potential to be used for assessment of management practices across different regions of Mexico. It is recommended that users calibrate and validate the tool for their particular region(s). For information on how to calibrate and validate the Nitrogen Index, see Figueroa-Viramontes et al. (2011). We have found that when the tool is populated with strong information and/or is calibrated and validated, it provides results that can potentially be used to assess management practices across different regions of Mexico (Delgado et al. 2008; De Paz et al. 2009; Figueroa-Viramontes et al. 2011; Monar et al. 2013). For additional instructions on how to use the Nitrogen Index for Mexico, see the Mexico Nitrogen Index user manual developed by INIFAP (Figueroa et al. 2011).
Technical Abstract: Nitrogen is needed to maximize productivity of agricultural systems in Mexico. However, when these systems receive more nitrogen than necessary, losses of nitrogen to the environment can occur and negatively impact water bodies. Additionally, it has been reported across the literature that nitrogen inputs can also contribute to emissions of greenhouse gases, which have been reported to be among the anthropogenic factors contributing to climate change. We can use quick nitrogen tools to help us evaluate nitrogen management practices and the potential to increase nitrogen use efficiency. The Mexico Nitrogen Index is a simple tool that has the potential to help its users conduct a quick nitrogen management assessment for a given system and help them in the decision making process to increase nitrogen use efficiency and reduce the risk of losses of reactive nitrogen to the environment.