Optimisation of fertiliser rates in crop production against energy use indicators

Optimising mineral nitrogen (N) use in crop production is inevitable target as mineral fertilisers reflect one of the highest inputs both in terms of economy and energy. The aim of the study was to compare the relationship between the rate of N fertiliser application and different measures of energy parameters exemplary data for spring-wheat in boreal climate condition in Estonia in 2006–2010. The effect of mineral N with rates 0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg N ha^?1 was studied on the background of composted cow manure and without organic fertilisers. Univalent parameters, energy gain (EG) (energy output ? energy input) and energy ratio (ER) (energy output/energy input) were calculated. To aggregate parameters with different units (ER and EG) we proposed two standardisation approaches for combined indices. ER maximisation gave both organic fertilisation background optimum N norms significantly lower than EG (p < 0.05) optimisation. Both the new combined indices gave optimum N norms in between the rate of ER an EG. Composted cow manure background did not affect mineral N optimisation significantly. We suggest optimisation of mineral N according to bi-dimensional parameters as they capture important features of production efficiency and are more objective using as advisory tool for sustainable production systems.