Genetic variation for nitrogen use efficiency in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L)

The new European Common Agricultural Policy and environmental considerations are certainly to change agricultural practices toward low input cultivation systems. Nitrogen is one of the main inputs of winter wheat in northern France and it contributes highly to phreatic water pollution. A research programme has then been set up in order to study whether it is possible to breed for winter wheat cultivars using more efficiently N fertilisers. Less nitrogen would be applied, decreasing pollution risks and operational costs. It has been shown that a large variation exists for N related traits and for the resistance against N deficiency. On the one hand the cv Arche is very resistant to N deficiency, its yield on low N conditions (with no N fertiliser) is on average 89% of its yield on high N conditions (with a high N application). On the other hand, cv Recital is very susceptible to N deficiency as this same percentage is only 61%. A study on 10 hybrids showed that heterosis for grain yield was higher at low N level than at high N level. This was due to a higher number of grains per m(2).