Yield potential
- Also known as
- yield gap, attainable yield
Yield potential is the yield a crop variety can achieve when grown in a given environment with ample water and nutrients and with pests, diseases and weeds effectively controlled. The difference between yield potential and the yield actually achieved is the yield gap.
What is yield potential?
Yield potential describes the ceiling. It is the yield a well-adapted crop variety reaches when nothing limits it except the climate and sunlight of its location: water and nutrients are sufficient, and pests, diseases and weeds are controlled. It is set by the variety’s genetics together with temperature, solar radiation and the length of the growing season.
For crops that rely on rainfall, researchers also use water-limited yield potential, the ceiling when water supply is set by rainfall rather than irrigation.
The yield gap
The yield gap is the difference between yield potential and the average yield farmers actually achieve. It reflects limits such as water shortages, nutrient deficiencies, soil compaction, pest and disease pressure, and management timing. The Global Yield Gap Atlas estimates potential and actual yields for major crops around the world to show where yields could be raised.
In practice, farmers rarely close the gap entirely, because the last increments of yield usually cost more than they return.
What affects how much potential is realized
- Abiotic stress at sensitive stages, such as flowering.
- Nutrition, including nutrient use efficiency.
- Stand establishment and root development.
- Soil condition, including soil health.
- Pest, disease and weed control.
Inputs and practices are evaluated by how much of the yield gap they close, which is why independent replicated field trials matter.
Frequently asked questions
Yield potential is set mainly by genetics and climate. Most inputs and practices help a crop reach more of its existing potential by removing limitations, rather than raising the ceiling itself.
Yield potential is the theoretical ceiling without limiting factors. Attainable yield is what is realistically achievable with good management, typically below the potential.
Sources
- Global Yield Gap Atlas, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Wageningen University
- Crop yield and yield potential definitions, L. T. Evans and R. A. Fischer, Crop Science, 1999