SUSTAINABLE NITROGEN MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIAN AGROECOSYSTEMS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient that supports life, but excess N in the humanenvironment system causes multiple adverse effects from the local to the global scale. Sustainable N management in agroecosystems, therefore, has become more and more critical to address the increasing concern over food security, environmental quality and climate change. Australia is facing a serious challenge for sustainable N management due to its emission-intensive lifestyle (high level of animal-source foods and fossil fuels consumption) and its diversity of agricultural production systems, from extensive rainfed grain systems with mining of soil N to intensive crop and animal production systems with excessive..