@article{iiasa13766,
          volume = {572},
           month = {December},
           title = {Global assessment of nitrogen losses and trade-offs with yields from major crop cultivations},
       publisher = {Elsevier},
         journal = {Science of The Total Environment},
             doi = {10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.08.093},
           pages = {526--537},
            year = {2016},
             url = {https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/13766/},
            issn = {00489697},
        abstract = {Agricultural application of reactive nitrogen (N) for fertilization is a cause of massive negative environmental problems on a global scale. However, spatially explicit and crop-specific information on global N losses into the environment and knowledge of trade-offs between N losses and crop yields are largely lacking. We use a crop growth model, Python-based Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (PEPIC), to determine global N losses from three major food crops: maize, rice, and wheat. Simulated total N losses into the environment (including water and atmosphere) are 44 Tg N yr? 1. Two thirds of these, or 29 Tg N yr? 1, are losses to water alone. Rice accounts for the highest N losses, followed by wheat and maize. The N loss intensity (NLI), defined as N losses per unit of yield, is used to address trade-offs between N losses and crop yields. The NLI presents high variation among different countries, indicating diverse N losses to produce the same amount of yields. Simulations of mitigation scenarios indicate that redistributing global N inputs and improving N management could significantly abate N losses and at the same time even increase yields without any additional total N inputs},
          author = {Liu, W. and Yang, H. and Liu, J. and Azevedo, L. B. and Wang, X. and Xu, Z. and Abbaspour, K. C. and Schulin, R.}
}