Application of urease inhibitor improves protein composition and bread‐baking quality of urea fertilized winter wheat

Abstract

Background: Nitrogen losses is an economic problem for wheat production and a high risk to the environment. Therefore, improved N fertilizer management is a key to increasing the N efficiency and minimizing N losses. To increase N efficiency, enhanced fertilizers such as urea combined with urease inhibitor can be used. Aims: The aim of present study was to evaluate the effects of different N forms on grain storage protein subunits in winter wheat and to examine whether the observed changes correlate with parameters of baking quality. Methods: The investigation was performed over two consecutive years at two locations in Germany. Protein subunits were analyzed by SDS‐PAGE. Results: Protein concentrations were similarly increased after fertilization with ammonium nitrate and urea + urease inhibitor. Analysis of the individual storage protein fractions indicated that both fertilizers specifically enhanced ω‐gliadins and HMW glutenins, but the effect was more pronounced in the ammonium nitrate treatment. Application of urea + urease inhibitor had greater influence on the protein composition and resulted in higher specific baking volume as well as the best fresh keeping ability, in comparison with urea treatment. Conclusion: Considering that the urea + urease inhibitor treatment resulted in almost comparable improvements of NUE and baking quality, with the additional benefit of reduced N losses in combination with easy handling, urea + urease inhibitor can be recommended as a viable alternative to both urea alone and ammonium nitrate treatments. This opens up an opportunity for the reduction of N loss in wheat production when use of urea is preferred.

Climate–Nutrient–Crop Model: Novel Insights into Grain-Based Food Quality

“…The dose of nitrogen fertilizer, the use of slow-release nitrogen fertilizers, or the timing of nitrogen application can have a strong impact on the loaf volume, fresh-keeping ability, and crumb texture, including springiness, cohesiveness, density, and porosity. These effects are mediated by alterations in the gliadin or glutenin content and ratio as well as subfraction levels. ,, Additionally, the improved quality of baked bread has been attributed to a reduction in the gliadin/glutenin ratio and an increase in the HMW-GS/LMW-GS ratio rather than changes in the protein content . In contrast to bread, biscuit quality is predominantly influenced by the total protein content rather than protein composition.…”

“…To address this, artificial starch–protein systems are often created by mixing pure starch and pure protein fractions from various plant sources. ,,,, However, an important limitation of this approach is its limited practical significance, because the artificial starch–protein matrix is not embedded in a real food system to test whether it effectively changes food quality, such as the baking volume. In terms of nitrogen-associated baking quality, numerous pieces of evidence have shown that nitrogen availability resulting from fertilization can alter the baking volume, regardless of the specific treatments applied (such as nitrogen dose, fertilizer type, fertilization time, and strategy). ,, Building upon this platform, investigating the roles of starch or protein in the starch–protein matrix or food quality makes more theoretical and practical sense, because starch and protein properties are simultaneously and independently altered by nutrient availability. Therefore, artificial blends cannot account for such structural differences.…”

“…Numerous studies have demonstrated that nitrogen fertilization has significant effects on the quality characteristics of end food products. For example, nitrogen-regulated protein content and composition determine favorable volume, texture, and taste properties in baked or steamed bread, noodles, and cooked rice. ,− However, the explanation that quality formation is solely attributed to nutrient-triggered protein alteration appears to be biased and insufficient. This is because, in flour- and grain-based food products, starch is the predominant component, comprising 60–70% of the total, whereas protein accounts for 8–18%.…”

Modifikasi Pupuk Urea Pelepasan Terkendali dan Pengaruhnya terhadap Lingkungan

“…Akan tetapi, efek negatif dari nitrogen yang berlebihan adalah mencemari lingkungan karena kontaminasi nitrat dalam tanah dan air permukaan. Efek lain adalah urea dapat terhidrolisis dengan cepat menjadi amonium dan menguap menjadi amonia dan dapat menimbulkan permasalahan lingkungan dan kesehatan (Maharani & Novan, 2017;Rekowski et al, 2020). Urea dapat dengan mudah larut dalam air, hal ini yang menyebabkan sisa urea yang tidak terserap oleh tanaman bisa menyebabkan eutrofikasi ekosistem, degradasi kualitas air, menimbulkan efek rumah kaca, dan mengganggu rantai makanan dalam ekosistem (Hussain et al, 2012;Ni et al, 2011;Bortoletto-Santos et al, 2018).…”

Ginger extracted oil as an alternative for the emulsion to prepare chitosan microspheres for urea controlled release fertilizer

“…Nitrogen helps plants to makeup proteins and chlorophyll content making lush green color [3,4] and accelerating foliar growth, energizing root penetration, and improvements in the quality and quantity of the fruit. The most commonly applied nitrogenous fertilizer is urea which contains a high N content (46%), and Plants can only bene t 30-35%, whereas a signi cant portion of fertilizer is lost through denitri cation, volatilization, surface run-off, and leaching, causing losses of nutrients to air, and ground/surface water [5][6][7]. To overcome such issues, researchers are seeking to formulate control or slow released fertilizers with enhanced e ciency, biodegradation, cost-effective, non-toxic, easy to handle, environment friendly, and boost crop yield by providing nutrients to plants during critical growth stages [8].…”