Research Progress on Nitrogen Use and Plant Growth

The application of nitrogen (N) fertilizers in agriculture has been increasing dramatically since 1970s. However, the over-fertilization causes could cause environmental problems, as well as low N use efficiency (NUE). Promoting NUE in plants and minimizing the environmental impacts of N fertilizers had been the focus of the current research. We reviewed the importance of N, N metabolism and plant growth, plant N physiology and the molecular aspect of N metabolism in this paper. The future development of N use and NUE of plants was also discussed.