Comparison of urea and ammonium nitrate in long term trials: 10 years of experimentation EVEILLARD(1); LAMBERT(2); HERVE(3); BOUTHIER(4); CHAMPOLIVIER(5); MARQUIS(6); ROCCA(7); ROUSSEL(8) 1UNIFA, 2YARA

, 3EUROCHEM Agro, 4ARVALIS-Institut du Végétal, 5Terres Inovia, 6BOREALIS-LAT, 7IN VIVO, 8OCI Agro

Comparison of urea and ammonium nitrate Context and partners Long term trial network Agronomic results: yield, N uptake

and proteins Environmental performance

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Improve nitrogen use efficiency to:  Comply with the Environmental European Regulation: • Nitrate directive • Air Quality directives: ammonia emissions • Climate-Energy 2030 EU targets: GHG reduction in agriculture  Remain competitive on the international market for wheat export • 41 M. tons (2015) of which more than half is exported • 11% protein content in soft wheat (2015) against a quality target of 11,5% for bread quality

Partners Technical Institute for cereals, corn and potatoes

Terres Inovia: Technical Institute for oil crops and pulses

Union of cooperatives pooling agronomic services French fertiliser industry Association 50 members

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N efficiency of ammonium nitrate and urea compared over some years Somme

•

12 locations from 2002 to 2013

•

5 years = mean duration of each trial

•

51 results (one trial, one year)

•

Oilseed rape – wheat - barley

•

5 calcareous soil types (pH>7,5)

•

7 non calcareous

Marne Eure-et-Loir

Ille-et-Vilaine

Meurthe-etMoselle

Vienne Indre CharenteMaritime

Deux-Sèvres

HauteGaronne

Calcareous Soils

Non calcareous Soils

Trial design

Expérimental design for a given year 4 blocks or replicates Split-plot with 2 factors • the form of the fertiliser applied (U and AN) • 5 N rates plus a no fertilized treatment 0N X is the nitrogen rate calculated each year for each crop and location according to the recognized N balance method (COMIFER)

Treatment

Rate

T1

0N

T2

X–80

U

T3

X–40

U

T4

X

U

T5

X+40

U

T6

X+80

U

T7

X–80

AN

T8

X–40

AN

T9

X

AN

T10

X+40

AN

T11

X+80

AN

Form

Urea = U and Ammonium nitrate = AN

Trial design: first year 50 m Block 1

Block 2

urea

urea ammo.

urea ammo.

Block 4

ammo.

80 m

Year 1 : set up of a past effect of U and AN All blocks are fertilised at the same calculated X rate split in 3 applications

urea ammo.

Block 3

Trial design: following years 50 m Block 1 Treat.

Rate

T1

0N

T2

X–80

U

T3

X–40

U

T4

X

U

T5

X+40

U

T6

X+80

U

T7

X–80

A

T8

X–40

A

T9

X

A

T10

X+40

A

T11

X+80

A

Block 2

Form

Year 2 80 m

11 treaments are placed in each sub-block with AN or urea in year 1 The remaining area not used for treatments continue to receive urea and ammonium nitrate at the calculated X rate Urea Block 4

Block 3

AN

Yield index 100% = AN at X rate during the harvesting year and the previous year Four average response curves in 51 situations

Yield comparing AN applied each year compared to urea applied also each year Two average « system » response curves in 51 situations

Consistent results between yield and N uptake at X calculated rate

Statistical significance (Student’s t-test) *** = Highly significant ** = very sign.

* = sign.

NS Not Significant

Environmental performance For each crop 𝑁𝑁 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺 100 ∗ = 𝑁𝑁 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑋𝑋 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 Indicator of N use efficiency

X Rate Kg N/ha Rape 183 Wheat 183 W. Barley 158 S. Barley 124

N efficiency (in %) Urea 57% 84% 80% 115%

AN 61% 89% 86% 119%

Mean difference = + 5% eff. for ammonium nitrate *** HS For each trial location, on the rotation Location N efficiency Urea (in %) AN Difference (in %)

17

28 Y

28 U

31

35

36

51 U

51 Y

54

80

86

67 71

75 80

93 96

68 71

92 98

80 82

78 83

61 69

65 69

77 85

77 80

4%

5%

3%

3%

6%

2%

5%

8%

4%

8%

3%

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More production, more food, less impact on GHG emission and biodiversity Feeding capacity of wheat produced per ha Calculation according to energy content (Kcal), expressed in number of people potentially fed /ha / year

Urea (X rate) AN (X rate) 0N (no fertiliser) Source: Perf’Alim, Cereopa  Feeding capacity is increased twofold when applying N fertilisers  Feeding capacity is improved by 4% by applying ammonium nitrate vs. urea

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Conclusion: ammonium nitrate, a better yield and increased N uptake in all trial locations The large trial network and the long term approach made it possible to quantify the positive effect of AN on yield and on N efficiency in a oilseed rape – wheat - barley rotation

A « past » effect of N fertiliser on yield has been measured and is particularly significant on the non-fertilised treatments receiving AN in the previous years (+4,7% yield index)

These results are consistant with a measured increase of N uptake in grain and plant when applying AN in the previous years

The environmental performance is improved when using AN at the calculated X rate: less non renewable energy, less GHG emission per ton of wheat, barley or oilseed rape

More food can be produced per year and per ha, land is spared for grassland and ecological areas protecting biodiversity and storing carbon in soil