Effects of Nutrient Antagonism and Synergism on Yield and Fertilizer Use Efficiency

Figures & data

Table 1. Definition of synergistic, antagonistic, zero-interaction, and Liebig-synergism.

Interaction	Description	Evaluation
Synergism	Nutrient interaction is synergistic where the yield due to the combined application of two nutrients is more than the yield expected on the basis of the effects from the individual applications of the nutrients.
Antagonism	Nutrient interaction is antagonistic where the yield due to the combined application of two nutrients is less than the yield expected on the basis of the effects from the individual applications of the nutrients.
Zero-interaction	Where the yield obtained from a combination of two nutrients is equal to the yield expected on the basis of the individual application of the nutrients, the interaction is said to be zero-interaction.
Liebig-synergism	Typically in situations where the availability of one nutrient is limiting crop production, the addition of another nutrient shows no effect on yield, whereas addition of both nutrients shows an increased (synergistic) effect. Wallace (1990) introduced the term Liebig-synergism to describe this effect, referring to the Liebig limitation of the first nutrient.

Table 2. Example of synergism. The yield^a is given as function of the application of nutrients.

Rice grain yield (g plant^−1) at 150 kg ha^−1 N (Fageria and Oliveira 2014)			actual	expected
	100 mg kg^−1 P	200 mg kg^−1 P
100 mg kg^−1 K	10.7 (1.0)	12.3 (1.1)
200 mg kg^−1 K	12.6 (1.2)	16.6 (1.6)	1.6>	1.1 × 1.2 = 1.4

^arelative yield between parentheses.

Table 3. Example of a specific type of synergism: Liebig-synergism. The yield^a is given as a function of the application of nutrients.

Wheat yield (g plant^−1) (Wapakala 1973)			actual	expected
	0 kg ha^−1 N	44 kg ha^−1 N
0 kg ha^−1 Cu	1.30 (1.0)	1.08 (0.8)
14 kg ha^−1 Cu	1.50 (1.2)	1.96 (1.5)	1.5 >	0.8 × 1.2 = 1

^arelative yield between parentheses.

Figure 1. Interactions between nutrients. Number in squares refer to the number of studies of each type of interaction a. synergistic or Liebig-synergistic (totaling 43 cases). b. zero-interaction (totaling 35 cases). c. antagonistic (totaling 17 cases).

Table 5. Improved nitrogen use efficiency due to interaction with other nutrients (partly based on Aulakh and Malhi 2005).

Crop and N fertilization	NUE kg grain per kg applied N	Additional fertilizer	NUE kg grain per kg applied N	reference
Canola 120 kg N/ha	0.7	+60 kg S/ha	5.8	(Brennan and Bolland 2009)
Wheat 80 kg N/ha	2–14.6	+20 kg S/ha	5.7–17.3*	(Salvagiotti et al. 2009)
Wheat 120 kg N/ha	20.3	+90 kg P/ha	25.9	(Dwivedi et al. 2003)
Rice 120 kg N/ha	21.6	+60 kg P/ha	24.6	(Dwivedi et al. 2003)
Corn 100 kg N/ha	8.8	+60 kg P/ha	13.6	(Singh 1991)
Sorghum 120 kg N/ha	11.7	+60 kg P/ha	17.1	(Roy and Wright 1973)
Sunflower 60 kg N/ha	8.8	+30 kg P/ha	12.6	(Aulakh and Malhi 2005)
Field Pea 40 kg N/ha	10.3	+30 kg P/ha	15.2	(Aulakh and Malhi 2005)
Soybean 80 kg N/ha	0	+0.4 kg Fe/ha	9	(Caliskan et al. 2008)
Tobacco 224 kg N/ha	0.9	+0.22 kg Mo/ha	3.1	(Sims, Atkinson, and Smitobol 1975)
Wheat 118–214 kg N/ha	25	+0.2 kg Zn/ha foliar	36	(Seadh et al. 2009)
Cauliflower 120 kg N/ha	68**	+4.2 kg Zn/ha	122**	(Balyan and Dhankar 1978)

* variation between locations, ** fresh weight.

Table 6. Grain yield of wheat (t ha⁻¹) as influenced by NPK and Zn applications (Sakal, Singh, and Sinha 1988).

NPKa	0 kg Zn ha^−1	5 kg Zn ha^−1	10 kg Zn ha^−1
N0P0K0	1.45	1.58	1.64
N50P30K25	2.73	2.88	3.03
N100P60K50	3.53	3.84	4.04

^adose of N, P, and K in terms of N, P₂O₅, K₂O in kg ha⁻¹. LSD (5%) = 0.220.

Table 7. Example of a zero-interaction. The yield^a is given as function of the application of nutrients.

soybean seed yield (t ha-1) (Abbasi et al. 2012)			actual	expected
	28 kg ha^−1 K	112 kg ha^−1 K
0 kg ha^−1 P	1.77 (1.00)	2.05 (1.16)
60 kg ha^−1 P	2.30 (1.30)	2.59 (1.46)	1.46 ≈	1.16 × 1.30 = 1.51

^arelative yield between parentheses.

Table 8. Example of a negative interaction: Antagonism. The yield* is given as function of the application of nutrients.

Wheat shoot biomass (g pot^−1) (Kumar, Bhatia, and Shukla 1981)			actual	expected
	0 mg kg^−1 Mg	60 mg kg^−1 Mg
0 mg kg^−1 Zn	12 (1)	19 (1.6)
20 mg kg^−1 Zn	21 (1.7)	22 (1.9)	1.9 <	1.6 × 1.7 = 2.7

*relative yield between parentheses.

Table 9. Number of interactions assessed in this review.

Category	Number of studies
Synergism	23
Liebig-synergism	20
Zero-interaction	35
antagonism	17
Negative effect of nutrients on yield	7
no interaction could be detecteda	15
Total number	117

^aif there was no significant effect on yield, the interactions could not be categorized.

Table 10. Effects of macronutrient fertilizer on yield and content of micronutrients in the grain^a. In case of a significant effect of the fertilizer on the nutrient concentration, the nutrient concentration at the lowest and highest fertilizer input is given; otherwise the average content is given.

Crop	Fertilizer input low-high (kg/ha/yr)	Yield t/ha	Mg g/kg	Zn mg/kg	Cu mg/kg	Fe mg/kg	Mn mg/kg	Reference
Brown rice ^b	0 – 275N	6.8 – 11.6	1.5	33	3.6	26	67	(Marr, Batten, and Lewin 1999)
Corn	0 – 130 N	34 – 42 ^d	4.6				46 – 63	(Riedell 2010)
Corn	0 – 240 N	6.1 – 8.9		15 – 17	1.2 – 1.6	13 – 16	3.0 – 3.4	(Xue et al. 2014)
Corn ^c,e	0 – 240 N	9.5 – 11	1.9	18	3.6	89	45 – 77	(Izsáki 2009)
Corn ^e	0 – 72 P	7.4 – 7.9	0.34	23 – 17	6.8 – 6.1	224 – 198	95	(Izsáki 2014)
Corn	0 – 160 N	4.3 – 6.2	1.1	26 – 24	2.2		6.4	(Feil et al. 2005)
Corn (field)	0 – 224 N	4 – 17	1.4 – 1.6	28	2.3 – 2.6	20 – 24	6 – 7	(Ciampitti and Vyn 2013)
Dry bean (pot)	25 – 200 mg/kg P	1.7 – 7.6 ^d	1.8	27 – 24	5.2		17	(Fageria, Moreira, and Coelho 2012)
Sorghum	0 – 100 N	5.1 – 8.0	1.5	17	2.8	90	14	(Kaufman et al. 2013)
Winter wheat	0 – 300 N	5.7 – 9.2	1.0	27	5	35	19	(McGrath 1985)
Winter wheat	40 – 160 N	4.2 – 5.1	1.3	24		47 – 56	20	(Zebarth, Warren, and Sheard 1992)
Wheat	67 – 194 N	6.6 – 8.2		38 – 42	3.4 – 3.8	39	46 – 55	(Svecnjak et al. 2013)
Wheat	0 – 400 P	3.5 – 6.5		29 – 13	5.3 – 4.5	31 – 37	26 – 31	(Zhang et al. 2012)

^aIn case of bean, corn, rice, and wheat, the concentrations are for the grain (dry matter) and not the whole plant. In case of brown rice, the grain without the hull.

^bdata from the years 1992–1993

^cdata from the year 2001.

^dyield in grams per plant.

^econcentration in leaves.

Table 11. Annual nutrient uptake (kg/ha/year) for some crops.

Crop		Yield (t/ha)	N	P	K	Ca	Mg	Zn	Cu	Mn	Fe	B	ref.
Lowland rice	straw	9.4	65	15	156	26	15	0.55	0.08	4.72	2.55	0.07	^a
	grain	6.4	86	15	20	5	7	0.22	0.10	0.37	0.51	0.03	^a
Upland rice	straw	6.3	56	3	150	23	13	0.16	0.04	1.32	0.65	0.05	^a
	grain	4.6	70	10	56	4	5	0.14	0.06	0.28	0.12	0.03	^a
Dry bean	straw	1.9	13	2	35	17	7	0.05	0.01	0.03	0.90		^a
	grain	0.004	119	12	61	8	6	0.12	0.04	0.05	0.40		^a
Corn	straw	11.9	72	5	153	33	21	0.18	0.05	0.45	2.05	0.10	^a
	grain	8.5	127	17	34	8	9	0.19	0.01	0.08	0.21	0.04	^a
Sweet corn	grain		57	10	38	2	4	0.08	0.02	0.05	0.10	0.03	^b
	residue		141	15	194	23	15	0.15	0.06	0.34	0.41	0.06	^b
Corn	silage	15	183	28	189	25	19	0.03	0.03	0.41	2.0		^c
Grass		10	318	42	353	52	23	0.17	0.06	1.05	4.9		^c

^aBrazil (Fageria, Baligar, and Jones 2011).

^baverage for eight corn varieties (Heckman 2007).

^caverage from large number of analyses (>1000) in the Netherlands (Evers et al. 2000).

Table 12. Fertilization rates of micronutrients (kg/ha) for deficient situations for different countries.

Micronutrient	Fertilization rate in kg/ha
	Range in various studies^1	Netherlands^2	Germany^3	USA^4	Austria^5
B	0 – 17	0.2 – 1.5	2, 0.5*	1 – 3	0.4 – 2.5, 0.4*
Cu	1.1 – 13.4	2.5 – 6	4, 0.5*	15	1 –10, 0.5*
Fe		not recommended			0.5 – 1.5*
Mn	3 – 40	15*	1.0*	3 – 6	10 – 20, 1.5 – 3*
Mo	0.01 – 0.5	1, 0.05*			1, 0.3*
Zn	0.6 – 17		7, 0.5*	2 – 9	5 – 10, 0.3*

^aamount for a single foliar application.

^b compilation of studies (Martens and Westermann 1991).

^cadvice in the Netherlands, application is sufficient for a period of 4 years (Hoeks et al. 2012).

^dadvice in Germany, application is sufficient for a period of 4 years (Landwirtschaftskammer Niedersachsen 2008).

^eadvice in Wisconsin (Laboski and Peters 2012).

^fadvice in Austria (BMLFUW 2006).

Table 13. Plasma membrane transporters for nutrients.

Plasma membrane transporter families	Role for nutrient	Reference
Ammonium transporters (AMT)	NH4^+	^1
Nitrate transporters (NRT)	NO3^−	^1
Anion channels	Cl^−	^1
K channels	K^+	^1
Ca channels	Ca^2+	^1
Phosphate-transporters (PhT)	H2PO4^2-	^1
SulP	SO4^2-	^1
P3A-type H-ATPases	Na^+, K^+, Ca^2+, Zn^2+	^1
P1B-Zn-ATPases	Zn^2+, Co^2+, Cu^2+	^1
P2B-(Ca)-ATPases	Ca^2+	^1
yellow-stripe1-like (YSL)	Fe^2+	^1
natural resistant-associated macrophage (NRAMP)	Mn^2+, Fe^2+, Co^2+	^1
Zinc (ZIP)	Zn^2+, Cu^2+, Fe^2+	^1
Copper transporter (COPT)	Cu^2+	^1
Borate-transporter (BOR)	H2BO3^−	^2
Molybdate-transporter (MOT)	MoO4^2-	^2

^a(Schulz 2010), ²(White 2012).

Table 14. Dataset of 117 interactions between nutrients on crop yield (for explanation of table see text in Appendix 1) on the basis of 94 references, for 74 combinations^a of nutrients.

nr ^a	crop ^b	nutrients^c	yield^d	T0 ^e	y0 ^f	Ta ^g	ya ^h	Tb ^i	yb ^j	Tab ^k	yab ^l	type^m	ratio^n	Ty°	reference
1	Canola	N/K kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	0.7	138/0	0.8	0/60	0.8	138/60	1.5	S	1.6	F	(Brennan and Bolland 2009)
1	Wheat	N/K kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	1.2	138/0	1.5	0/60	1.5	138/60	2.4	S	1.3	F	(Brennan and Bolland 2009)
1	Rice	N/K mg/kg	grain (g/plant)	150/100	11	300/100	16	150/200	12.6	300/200	19	S	1.0	G	(Fageria and Oliveira 2014)
1	oat	N/K kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0		120/0		0/33		120/33		n.e.		F	(Mohr et al. 2007)
1	pineapple	N/K kg/ha	fruit (t/ha)	100/100	18	200/100	22	100/200	19	200/200	26	S	1.1	F	(Obiefuna, Majumder, and Ucheagwu 1987)
1	maize	N/K kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	134/0	8.4	314/0	8.9	134/134	8.4	314/134	8.9	n.e		F	(Bruns and Ebelhar 2006)
1	wheat	N/P kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	1.55	180/0	1.23	0/39	2.24	180/39	3.13	S	1.6	F	(Sinha, Kavitkar, and Parshad 1973)
2	sorghum	N/P kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	1.30	120/0	2.31	0/17	1.49	120/17	2.40	add	0.9	F	(Buah, Kombiok, and Abatania 2012)
2	rice	N/P mg/kg	grain (g/plant)	150/100	10.7	300/100	16	150/200	12.4	300/200	19	S	1.0	G	(Fageria and Oliveira 2014)
2	rice	K/P mg/kg	grain (g/plant)	100/100	10.7	200/100	12.6	100/200	12.4	200/200	17	S	1.1	G	(Fageria and Oliveira 2014)
2	oat	N/P kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0		120/0		0/26		120/26		n.e.		F	(Mohr et al. 2007)
3	groundnut	K/P kg/ha	pod (t/ha)	0/0		40/0		0/120		40/120		n.e.		F	(Lombin and Singh 1986)
3	wheat	K/P kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0						64/110		n.e.		F	(Touchton, Johnson, and Cunfer 1980)
3	maize	K/P kg/ha	yield (t/ha)	0/0	13.5	150/0	13.7	0/45	14.7	150/45	14.8	n.e.		F	(Jakobsen 1993)
3	soybean	K/P kg/ha	seed (t/ha)	28/0	2.8	112/0	2.9	28/60	3.0	112/60	3.8	S	1.2	F	(Jones, Lutz, and Smith 1977)
3	soybean	K/P kg/ha	seed (t/ha)	0/0	1.8	40/0	2.1	0/120	2.3	40/120	2.6	add	1.0	F	(Abbasi et al. 2012)
4	cabbage	N/S kg/ha	crop (t/ha)	84/0	25.3	168/0	23.6	84/22	37.6	168/22	61.2	L-S	1.7	F	(Rhoads and Olson 2001)
4	oilseed rape	N/S kg/ha	crop (t/ha)	180/0	0.4	230/0	1.1	180/10	0.4	230/10	1.7	S	1.5	F	(McGrath and Zhao 1996)
4	teff	N/S kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	0.5	0/16	0.6	70/0	0.5	70/16	1.0	S	1.4	F	(Habtegebrial and Singh 2006)
4	1e grass cut	N/S kg/ha	yield (t/ha)	0/0	1.4	134/0	1.8	0/12	1.7	134/12	3.2	S	1.5	F	(Kowalenko 2004)
4	3e grass cut	N/S kg/ha	yield (t/ha)	0/0	1.1	134/0	1.5	0/12	1.8	134/12	1.2	A	0.5	F	(Kowalenko 2004)
4	maize	N/S kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	8.2	125/0	10.3	0/15	9.0	125/15	11	add	0.9	F	(Pagani et al. 2012)
4	canola	N/S kg/ha	seed (t/ha)	0/0	0.8	252/0	2.4	0/45	0.9	252/45	2.7	add	1.0	F	(Jackson 2000)
4	sunflower	N/S mg/l	seed (g/plant)	7/1	1.3	168/1	5.9	7/75	1.3	168/75	35.6	L-S	6	G	(Hocking, Randall, and Pinkerton 1987)
4	wheat	N/S kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	25/0	2.6	105/0	3.3	25/30	2.8	105/30	3.6	add	1.0	F	(Salvagiotti et al. 2009)
5	potato	K/S mg/l	tuber (g/plant)	2/1	119	8/1	188	2/4	142	8/4	253	S	1.1	H	(Moinuddin and Umar 2004)
5	sunnhemp	K/S kg/ha	fiber (t/ha)	0/0	0.5	60/0	0.6	0/40	0.7	60/40	0.8	add	1.0	F	(Saha et al. 2013)
6	white clover	P/S kg/ha	yield (t/ha)	0/0	1.8	80/0	3.0	0/30	4.8	80/30	7.4	add	0.9	F	(Sinclair et al. 1996)
6	grass	P/S kg/ha	yield (t/ha)	0/0	6.2	80/0	8.4	0/30	10	80/30	14	add	1.0	F	(Sinclair et al. 1996)
6	chickpea	S/P kg/ha	seed (kg/ha)	0/0	0.8	0/80	1.0	30/0	0.9	30/80	1.1	add	1.0	F	(Islam et al. 2012)
6	soybean	P/S mg/kg	grain (g/pot)	0/0	2.0	80/0	2.4	0/80	2.6	80/80	3	add	1.0	G	(Kumar and Singh 1980)
8	clover	Ca/K %CEC	yield (g/pot)	30/2	23	50/2	21	30/18	22	50/18	22	n.e.	1.0	G	(Johansson and Hahlin 1977)
9	ryegrass	Ca/P mg/kg	yield (g/pot)	0/0	4.7	1.2/0	5.9	0/2.2	6.3	1.2/2.2	6.7	add	0.9	G	(Bailey 1991)
9	cotton	Ca/P mg/l	dm (g/pot)	6/2	2.4	90/2	3.1	6/30	7.1	90/30	15	S	1.6	H	(Le Mare 1977)
12	wheat	K/Mg mg/kg	shoot (g/pot)							214/18		n.e.		G	(Ohno and Grunes 1985)
12	corn	K/Mg kg/ha	yield (t/ha)							270/45		n.e.		F	(Rehm and Sorensen 1985)
12	sorghum	K/Mg mg/l	shoot (g/pot)							200/50		add		H	(Ologunde and Sorensen 1982)
12	lucerne	K/Mg mmol/l	shoot (g/pot)	0.5/0.5	10.6	4/0.5	13.8	0.5/2	10.76	4/2	12	neg.		H	(Omar and El-Kobbia 1965)
12	corn	K/Mg mg/kg	shoot (g/pot)	0/0	20	22/0	24	0/16	22	22/16	27	add	1.0	G	(Bedi and Sekhon 1977)
12	corn	K/Mg mg/kg	shoot (g/pot)	0/0	25	22/0	21	0/16	25	22/16	29	L-S	1.3	G	(Bedi and Sekhon 1977)
12	Cowpea	K/Mg mg/l	shoot (g/pot)									A		H	(Narwal, Kumar, and Singh 1985)
12	ryegrass	K/Mg kg/ha	dm (t/ha)	0/0	9	284/0		0/88		284/88	11	add		F	(Bolton and Penny 1968)
16	soybean	N/Fe kg/ha	seed (kg/ha)	0/0	2.1	80/0	2.2	0/0.4	2.1	80/0.4	2.8	S	1.3	F	(Caliskan et al. 2008)
16	wheat	N/Fe kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	118/0	6.8	214/0	9.1	118/0.24	8.1	214/0.24	10	add	0.9	F	(Seadh et al. 2009)
16	soybean T-203	N/Fe mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	23	250/0	9	0/0.035	26	250/0.035	15	neg.		G	(Aktas and Vanegmond 1979)
16	soybean Hawkeye	N/Fe mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	44	250/0	62	0/0.035	44	250/0.035	58	A	0.9	G	(Aktas and Vanegmond 1979)
18	white lupine	P/Fe mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	3.9	120/0	4.2	0/8	3.22	120/8	5.2	L-S	1.5	G	(Moraghan 1992)
18	maize	P/Zn+Fe	grain (t/ha)	0/0	4.7	150/0	4.6	0/30	5.1	150/30	4.7	neg.		F	(Nair and Babu 1975)
18	soybean	P/Fe mmol/l	shoot (g)	0.1/0.001	4.0	2/0.001	9.5	0.1/20	5.50	2/20	11	A	0.8	H	(Rotaru and Sinclair 2009)
19	sorghum	Fe/S mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	6.3	0/30	10	5/0	11	5/30	15	A	0.8	G	(Olsen and Watanabe 1979)
21	radish	Mg/Fe mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0.05/0.1	0.4	240/0.1	0.3	0.05/28	0.2	240/28	0.9	L-S	4.6	G	(Agarwala and Mehrotra 1984)
22	barley oats	N/Mn kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	0.9	22/0	2.4	0/5.6	2.4	22/5.6	3.1	A	0.5	F	(Petrie and Jackson 1984)
22	wheat	N/Mn kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	118/0	6.8	214/0	9.1	118/0.24	8.2	214/0.24	10.2	add	0.9	F	(Seadh et al. 2009)
23	soybean	K/Mn umol/l	dm (g/plant)	1/0	2.2	10/0	2.1	1/0.002	3.3	10/0.002	2.9	A	0.9	H	(Heenan and Campbell 1981)
24	barley oats	P/Mn umol/l	dm. (g/pot)	3/0.0015	5.5	30/0.0015	7.4	3/0.015	4.8	30/0.015	9	L-S		H	(Pedas et al. 2011)
24	potato	P/Mn umol/l	shoot (g/pot)	32/0.05	8.5	128/0.05	11.5	32/9.5	10.0	128/9.5	14	add	1.0	H	(Barben et al. 2011)
26	cotton	Ca/Mn mg/l	dm. (g/pot)	6/0.5	7.20	90/0.5	12.5	6/16.5	4.0	90/16.5	11	neg.		H	(Le Mare 1977)
28	maize	Fe/Mn mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	3.4	50/0	4.5	0/100	5.0	50/100	5.5	A	0.8	G	(Bansal, Chahal, and Nayyar 1999)
28	chickpea	Fe/Mn mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	3.68	2/0	2.99	0/30	3.51	2/30	3	neg.		G	(Ghasemi-Fasaei et al. 2005)
28	wheat	Fe/Mn mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	3.38	8/0	3.51	0/15	3.80	8/15	3.05	A		G	(Ghasemi-Fasaei and Ronaghi 2008)
28	soybean	Fe/Mn umol/l	dm (g/pot)	0/0	0.95	1.8/0	1.65	0/20	1.10	1.8/20	1.6	neg.		H	(Heenan and Campbell 1983)
28	soybean	Fe/Mn mg/kg	grain (t/ha)	0/0	2.1	50/0	3.0	0/40	3.2	50/40	3.5	A	0.76	F	(Kobraee and Shamsi 2011)
28	dry bean	Fe/Mn mg/kg	shoot (g/pot)	0/0	3.3	8/0	3.4	0/30	3.6	8/30	3.4	n.e.		G	(Moosavi and Ronaghi 2010)
28	dry bean	Fe/Mn mg/kg	shoot (g/pot)	0/0	3.3	2/0	3.1	0/1	3.4	2/1	3.1	n.e.		G	(Moosavi and Ronaghi 2010)
29	wheat	N/Zn mg/kg	grain (g/pot)	0/0	9.8	150/0	16	0/20	14	150/20	26	add	1.1	G	(Verma and Bhagat 1990)
29	pearl millet	N/Zn mg/kg	shoot (g/pot)	0/0	5.2	200/0	28	0/20	4	200/20	21	add	1.0	G	(Kumar, Ahlawat, and Antil 1985)
29	cauliflower	N/Zn kg/ha	product (t/ha)	0/0	8.8	120/0	17	0/4.2	14	120/4.2	23	add	0.9	F	(Balyan and Dhankar 1978)
29	wheat	N/Zn kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	118/0	6.8	214/0	9.1	118/0.24	8.4	214/0.24	10.4	add	0.9	F	(Seadh et al. 2009)
31	potato	P/Zn umol/l	shoot (g/pot)	32/0.1	6.8	128/0.1	8.0	32/54	10	128/54	14	S	1.2	H	(Barben et al. 2011)
31	stevia	P/Zn kg/ha	shoot (g/pot)	0/0	22	30/0	20	0/10	23	30/10	23	n.e.	1.07	G	(Das et al. 2005)
31	maize	P/Zn mg/kg	shoot (g/pot)	0/0	2	300/0	6	0/10	2	300/10	12	L-S	2.0	G	(Friesen, Juo, and Miller 1980)
31	wheat	P/Zn mg/kg	shoot (g/pot)	0/0	1.7	250/0	1.7	0/5	1.6	250/5	2.3	S	1.4	G	(Imtiaz et al. 2006)
31	bean	P/Zn mg/kg	seed (g/pot)	0/0	3.1	40/0	5.6	0/5	3.1	40/5	6.4	L-S	1.1	G	(Singh, Karamanos, and Stewart 1988)
31	maize	P/Zn uM	biomass (g/pot)									n.e.		H	(Nichols et al. 2012)
31	soybean	P/Zn kg/ha	seed (kg/ha)	0/0	1.56	53/0	1.58	0/10	1.86	53/10	1.87	add	1.0	F	(Payne, Sumner, and Plank 1986)
31	dwarf bean	P/Zn kg/ha	seed (g/plant)	0/0	13	200/0	11	0/40	13	200/40	17	L-S	1.5	G	(Gianquinto et al. 2000)
31	maize	P/Zn mg/kg	shoot (g/plant)	0/0	1.5	75/0	2.4	0/10	1.2	75/10	4.5	L-S		G	(Safaya 1976)
31	maize	P/Zn mg/l	shoot (mg/plant)	0/0	49	80/0	35	0/20	49	80/20	48	neg		H	(Soltangheisi et al. 2014)
31	wheat	P/Zn kg/ha	grain (t/ha)									n.e.		F	(Zhang et al. 2012)
33	ryegrass	Ca*/Zn g/kg	grass (g/pot)	0/0	8.97	1.2/0	9.93	0/0.013	9.00	1.2/0.013	11	add	1.1	G	(Bailey 1991)
34	Wheat	Mg/Zn mg/kg	Shoot (g/pot)	0/0	11.9	60/0	18.5	0/20	20.6	60/20	22.1	A	0.7	G	(Kumar, Bhatia, and Shukla 1981)
35	rice	Fe/Zn kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	2.7	56/0	3.4	0/4	3.0	56/4	4.3	add	1.1	F	(Westfall, Anderson, and Hodges 1971)
35	rice	Fe/Zn kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	2.1	15/0	3.2	0/16	3.0	15/16	3.6	A	0.8	0/0	(Tandon 1996)
35	soybean	Fe/Zn mg/kg	grain (t/ha)	0/0	2.73	50/0	3.12	0/40	3.32	50/40	3.8	add	1.00	F	(Kobraee and Shamsi 2011)
36	wheat	Mn/Zn ug/l	grain (g wt/pot)	5.5/6.5	1.29	550/6.5	2.40	5.5/65	0.63	550/65	3.7	L-S		H	(Khurana and Chatterjee 2000)
36	soybean	Mn/Zn mg/kg	grain (t/ha)	0/0	2.09	40/0	3.19	0/40	3.00	40/40	3.8	A	0.82	F	(Kobraee and Shamsi 2011)
37	wheat	N/Cu kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	118/0	6.8	214/0	9.1	118/0.24	6.9	214/0.24	9.3	add		F	(Seadh et al. 2009)
37	wheat	N/Cu kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	1.30	44/0	1.08	0/14	1.50	44/12	2	L-S	1.6	F	(Wapakala 1973)
37	oats	N/Cu mg/kg	grain (mg/plant)	0/0	31	2400/0	20	0/21	61	2400/21	465	L-S	12	G	(Dekock, Cheshire, and Hall 1971)
37	raya	N/Cu mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	0.8	80/0	11	0/5	0.7	80/5	12	L-S		G	(Antil et al. 1988)
37	wheat	N/Cu mg/kg	Shoot g/pot)	0/0	1	120/0	2	0/5	1	120/5	2.52	L-S	1.3	G	(Kumar, Yadav, and Yadav 1990)
37	rice	N/Cu mmol/l	shoot (g/plant)	0.6/0	2.1	3/0	4	0.6/0.0002	2.5	3/0.0002	4	add	1	H	(Dias and Oliveira 1996)
39	maize	P/Cu mg/kg	shoot (g/plant)	0/0	28	50/0	27	0/5	35	50/5	29	A	0.9	G	(Awan and Abbasi 2000)
39	wheat	P/Cu mg/kg	grain (g/plant)	0/0	10.5	50/0	13.5	0/5	12.5	100/5	15.8	add	1.0	G	(Shukla and Singh 1979)
39	oats	P/Cu mg/kg	grain (mg/plant)	0/0	31	1200/0	25	0/21	61	1200/21	71	L-S	1.4	G	(Dekock, Cheshire, and Hall 1971)
43	oats	Fe/Cu mg/kg	grain (mg/plant)	0/0	44	1200/0	45	0/21	49	1200/21	769	S	15	G	(Cheshire, Dekock, and Inkson 1967)
44	cauliflower	Mn/Cu umol/l	shoot (g/plant)	0.01/0.01	10.2	10/0	9.8	0/1	6.5	10/1	16	L-S	3	H	(Nautiyal and Chatterjee 2002)
44	wheat	Mn/Cu ug/l	grain (g wt/pot)	5.5/6.5	1.09	550/5.5	1.32	5.5/550	0.63	550/550	3.7	L-S	4.8	H	(Khurana and Chatterjee 2000)
45	maize	Zn/Cu ug/l	plant (g/plant)	0.65/0.65	6.10	0.65/65	7.40	65/0.65	11.30	65/65	14.6	add	1.1	H	(Agarwala et al. 1995)
45	wheat	Zn/Cu ug/l	grain (g wt/pot)	5.5/6.5	1.26	55/6.5	1.32	5.5/65	2.40	55/65	3.7	S	1.5	H	(Khurana and Chatterjee 2000)
45	rice	Zn/Cu mg/kg	grain (g/pot)	16/8	7.18	64/8	3.58	16/16	6.83	64/16	7.6	A		G	(Chaudhry et al. 1973)
46	wheat	Zn/Cu mg/kg	grain (g/plant)	0/0	0.90	16/0	0.10	0/7	1.40	16/7	1.7	L-S	10.9	G	(Chaudhry and Loneragan 1970)
58	mustard	P/B mmol/l	shoot (g/plant)	0.15/0.0003	0.51	3/0.0003	3.54	0.15/0.3	0.79	3/0.3	7.8	S	1.4	H	(Sinha, Dube, and Chatterjee 2003)
59	mustard	S/B mmol/l	shoot (g/plant)	0.02/0.0003	2.85	2/0.0003	6.13	0.02/0.3	3.91	2/0.3	26	S	3.1	H	(Khurana and Chatterjee 2002)
60	peanut	Ca/B mg/kg	seed (g/plant)	0/0	0.25	100/0	0.63	0/2	0.25	100/2	4.50	L-S	7.2	F	(Keeratikasikorn, Bell, and Loneragan 1991)
60	carrot	Ca/B mmol/l	product (fw g)	0/0	25.6	3/0	35.9	0/0.005	32.4	3/0.005	46	add	1.0	H	(Singh et al. 2010)
60	pea, bean	Ca/B mmol/l	shoot (g/plant)	0.68/0.0093	0.29	1.36/0.0093	0.80	0.68/0.0465	1.01	1.36/0.0465	1.1	A	0.4	H	(Redondo-Nieto et al. 2003)
64	mustard	B/Zn mg/l	seed (g/plant)	3.3/0.65	0.09	330/0.65	0.40	3.3/65	0.03	330/65	3.9	S	35.1	H	(Sinha, Jain, and Chatterjee 2000)
67	tobacco	N/Mo mg/kg	grain (t/ha)	0/0	2.80	224/0	3.3	0/0.22	3.0	224/0.22	3.5	add	1.0	F	(Sims, Atkinson, and Smitobol 1975)
69	lentil	P/Mo mg/kg	shoot (g/plant)	0/0	1.22	50/0	1.7	0/50	2.3	50/1	3.0	add	0.9	G	(Mandal, Pal, and Mandal 1998)
69	White clover	P/Mo mg/kg	shoot (g/plant)	0/0	1.9	200/0	11	0/6	7.7	200/9	13.4	A	0.3	G	(Vistoso, Alfaro, and Mora 2012)
69	brassica napus	P/Mo mg/kg	grain (g/plant)	0/0	6.9	160/0	9.0	0/0.3	7.2	160/0.3	13	S	1.4	G	(Liu et al. 2010)
70	sorghum	S/Mo mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	6.3	30/0	10	0/0.062	6	30/0.062	10	add	1.0	G	(Olsen and Watanabe 1979)
70	raya crop	S/Mo mg/kg	dm (g/pot)									n.e.		G	(Dhankar et al. 1996)
70	tobacco	S/Mo mg/kg	leaf (t/ha)	0/0	2.7	224/0	2.7	0/2.2	2.6	224/2.2	3.0	S	1.1	F	(Sims, Leggett, and Pal 1979)
73	sorghum	Fe/Mo mg/kg	dm (g/pot)	0/0	6.3	5/0	11	0/0.062	6	5/0.062	12	add	1.0	G	(Olsen and Watanabe 1979)
74	canola	Mo/Mn kg/ha	grain (t/ha)	0/0	1.84	0.04/0	2.06	0/1	2.15	0.04/1	2.3	add	0.9	F	(Brennan and Bolland 2011)

^anr. combination of two nutrients

^bcrop

^cnutrients: treatment with nutrient a and b, given as a/b. Unit depends on the type of study. In water hydroponic studies (mg/l, mmol/l solution), pot studies (mg/kg soil) or field studies (kg/ha). Underlined is foliar application.

^dyield type of yield: mass of the shoot, grains, etc.

^eT₀ control treatment, given is the amount of nutrient a and b in the control treatment (example: 10/0 is 10 and 0 kg/ha of resp. nutrient a and b)(units: ^c).

^fy₀ yield in control treatment

^gT_a treatment with nutrient a

^hy_a yield in treatment a

ⁱT_b treatment with nutrient b

^jy_b yield in treatment b

^kT_ab treatment with nutrient a + b

^ly_ab yield in treatment in which nutrient a and b have been combined.

^mtype type of interaction: synergism (S), Liebig-synergism (L-S), antagonism (A), approximately zero-interaction (add.), no effect (n.e.). A negative effect, y₀ > y_ab (neg.), is difficult to categorize.

ⁿratio ratio (y_ab/y₀) (y_a/y₀ x y_b/y₀)⁻¹. In case there is a positive effect on yield of treatment a + b

then synergism if the ratio >1, antagonism if ratio <1.

^oTy type of study: field study (F), hydroponic study (H), and greenhouse study with soils, or purified sand, in pots (G).

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