International Potash Institute
IPI K Centre - Nitrogen and Potassium Interactions

Both nitrogen and potassium are macronutrients, used in large quantities to achieve high yields and quality. While potassium is benign to the environment, nitrogen fertilizer which is applied but not utilized by plants can have a significantly detrimental effect. Even though the theory of the 'Law of the Minimum' and scientific findings showing the interaction between nitrogen and potassium are well known, imbalanced fertilization and ignorance of the importance of potassium often leads to suboptimal levels of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE).

Dozens of experiments made by IPI, demonstrate the role and scale of effect of potassium on NUE. In these experiments, a typical K application of 30-150 kg K₂O/ha can increase NUE by approximately 10-40%.

Applying potassium and improving nutrient management practices offers an immediate and rewarding strategy to raise NUE and thereby reduce the undesirable flow of nitrogen into the environment.

The following items found on our web describe how the application of potash increases crops' response to nitrogen.

Publications

Papers and presentations

K in the literature