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Effects of nitrogen and sulphur fertilisers on the yield, N and S content, and amino acid composition of the grain of spring wheat
Author(s) -
Byers Marjorie,
Bolton John
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740300308
Subject(s) - dry matter , nitrogen , chemistry , sulfur , agronomy , composition (language) , methionine , asparagine , lysine , isoleucine , amino acid , yield (engineering) , leucine , food science , zoology , biology , biochemistry , linguistics , philosophy , materials science , organic chemistry , metallurgy
Spring wheat (cv. Kleiber) was grown in three pot experiments in a soil containing 10 mg kg −1 KH 2 PO 4 ‐soluble sulphur with different rates of nitrogen and sulphur fertilisers. Without added S the yields of grain dry matter and crude protein were either unchanged (glasshouse experiment) or significantly decreased by the N treatments (controlled environment experiments). With added S the N fertiliser increased the yields by 40–110%. The experiments produced grain with a wide range of N and S contents, the latter ranging from 0.06–0.21% on a dry matter basis. Grain from treatments giving the largest yields of dry matter and crude protein had a N:S ratio of about 15. The amino acid composition of the whole grain was changed significantly by the fertiliser treatments. When plants were grown without added S at the highest level of N the grain contained less than half the amount of cyst(e)ine and methionine (as % of total amino acid content) found in grain from plants given adequate amounts of S fertiliser. Grain from S‐deficient plants also had a much greater content of aspartic acid + asparagine but less threonine, leucine, isoleucine and lysine. The N:S ratio in grain from plants grown with insufficient S was well in excess of 15. The relation of these findings to the nutritive value of wheat as a feed and to the provision of enough disulphide bonding capacity for its use in bread‐making are discussed. Our results emphasise the necessity for having an adequate amount of S to balance the larger N applications now given to wheat to ensure that the grain is of the highest quality possible with any particular cultivar.