Quantitative attributes of nutrient uptake and use efficiency

Abstract

Nutrient uptake and their utilization efficiencies are the two central contemplations for identification and assessment of most suitable cultivars and for their ideal cultivation practices. Several endeavors have formularized quantitative attributes for these two important traits both at ecosystem as well as at species level across the globe under control conditions as well as on natural habitats. However, much confusion has been caused by the use of different terminology. Even the application of the most common terms, such as nutrient use efficiency, may differ among authors, leading to fundamental disagreement over interpretation of the same data. Thus, the present chapter is shaped with some important scattered attributes like definition of nutrient uptake and use efficiency, concept and levels of their measurements (ecosystem and species levels), technical terminology, and quantitative aspects for nutrient use and uptake efficiencies. Twenty-seven quantitative approaches with some supportive parameters like construction cost, resorption, and mechanistic models have also been described. The present chapter will give updated and comparative tools to researchers to facilitate their experiment layout, quantitative evaluation of their data sets, and their interpretation.