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JXB Advance Access originally published online on June 7, 2007
Journal of Experimental Botany 2007 58(9):2369-2387; doi:10.1093/jxb/erm097
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© The Author [2007]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

RESEARCH PAPER

The challenge of improving nitrogen use efficiency in crop plants: towards a more central role for genetic variability and quantitative genetics within integrated approaches

Bertrand Hirel1,*, Jacques Le Gouis2, Bertrand Ney3 and André Gallais4

1Unité de Nutrition Azotée des Plantes, UR 511, INRA de Versailles, Route de St Cyr, F-78026 Versailles Cedex, France
2Unité de Recherche de Génétique et Amélioration des Plantes, INRA, Domaine de Brunehaut–Estrées-Mons, F-80203, BP 136 Péronne, France
3Unité Mixte de Recherche AgroParisTech, Environnement et Grandes Cultures, F-78850 Thiverval Grignon, France
4Unité Mixte de Recherche de Génétique Végétale, INRA/CNRS/UPS/INAPG, Ferme du Moulon, F-91190 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hirel{at}versailles.inra.fr

In this review, recent developments and future prospects of obtaining a better understanding of the regulation of nitrogen use efficiency in the main crop species cultivated in the world are presented. In these crops, an increased knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms controlling plant nitrogen economy is vital for improving nitrogen use efficiency and for reducing excessive input of fertilizers, while maintaining an acceptable yield. Using plants grown under agronomic conditions at low and high nitrogen fertilization regimes, it is now possible to develop whole-plant physiological studies combined with gene, protein, and metabolite profiling to build up a comprehensive picture depicting the different steps of nitrogen uptake, assimilation, and recycling to the final deposition in the seed. A critical overview is provided on how understanding of the physiological and molecular controls of N assimilation under varying environmental conditions in crops has been improved through the use of combined approaches, mainly based on whole-plant physiology, quantitative genetics, and forward and reverse genetics approaches. Current knowledge and prospects for future agronomic development and application for breeding crops adapted to lower fertilizer input are explored, taking into account the world economic and environmental constraints in the next century.

Key words: Crops, environment, fertilization, low input, nitrogen management, yield

Received 9 January 2006; Revised 22 March 2007 Accepted 16 April 2007


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