EVALUATION OF VARIOUS STRATEGIES FOR MEASURING NITROGEN CONTENT IN WHEAT

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is considered as the most significant cereal crop. Nitrogen plays a vital role in the life cycle of wheat. It is the key nutrient of plants required for the production of chlorophyll and other essential cell components like proteins, amino acids and nucleic acids. N status determines the crop yield. Accurate, rapid and dynamic diagnosis of nitrogen status is important for assessing plant vigor, estimating crop production and optimizing nitrogen management in different crop plants. This review article focuses on current methods and tools used for the N determination in wheat. Kjeldahl digestion and Dumas combustion are considered as accurate methods for N estimation but they are destructive, expensive and time consuming. In field N estimation is done through Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and chlorophyll meter SPAD. These are time saving and non-destructive methods.