Table 1 Potential production and environmental impact of closing yield gap to 75% of yield potential in 19 cropping systems with relatively large yield gaps (i.e., average yield < 60% of yield potential) with (i) simultaneous reduction of nitrogen (N) balance to 75 kg N ha−1 in eight cropping systems with large N balance (>100 kg N ha−1) and (ii) without changes in current yield-scaled N balance.

From: Sustainable intensification for a larger global rice bowl

Scenario

Rice production (Mt)a

Excess N (Mt)a

  

N balance reduction

Unchanged yield-scaled N balance

Baseline

456

2.1

2.1

Potential

602

0.1

5.0

Differenceb

+146 (+32%)

−2 (−95%)

+2.9 (+140%)

  1. Excess N was calculated as the amount of N balance exceeding 75 kg N  ha−1. See “Methods” section for a description of the scenario assessment.
  2. aValues are totals across the 32 rice cropping systems included in our analysis. For the potential scenario, we assumed no changes in current rice harvested area, cropping intensity, and proportion of irrigated area.
  3. bAbsolute and percentage difference between the potential scenario and current baseline.
Back to article page