Nitrogen balance and groundwater nitrate contamination: Comparison among three intensive cropping systems on the North China Plain

The North China Plain (NCP) is one of the most important grain production regions in China. However, it currently experiences water shortage, severe nonpoint source pollution, and low water and N use efficiencies (WUE and NUE). To explore sustainable agricultural development in this region, a field experiment with different cropping systems was conducted in suburban Beijing. These cropping systems included a winter wheat and summer maize rotation system for one year (WM), three harvests (winter wheat-summer maize-spring maize) in two years (HT), and continuous spring maize monoculture (CS). Novel ways were explored to improve WUE and NUE and to reduce N loss via the alternative cropping system based on the simulation results of a soil-crop system model. Results showed that the annual average yields were ranked as follows: WM > HT > CS. The N leaching of WM was much larger than that of HT and CS. WUE and NUE were ranked as follows: WM < HT < CS. Comprehensive evaluation indices based on agronomic and environmental effects indicated that CS or HT have significant potential for approaches characterized by water-saving, fertilizer-saving, high-WUE, and high-NUE properties. Once spring maize yield reached an ideal level HT and CS became a high-yield, water-saving, and fertilizer-saving cropping systems. Therefore, this method would be beneficial to sustainable agricultural development in the NCP.

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Straw return reduces yield-scaled N 2 O plus NO emissions from annual winter wheat-based cropping systems in the North China Plain

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.194 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 590-591 ◽

pp. 174-185 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Zhisheng Yao ◽

Guangxuan Yan ◽

Xunhua Zheng ◽

Rui Wang ◽

Chunyan Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

The North ◽

The North China Plain ◽

Straw Return ◽

No Emissions

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Regional Assessment of Sustainable Agricultural Cropping Systems in the North China Plain - Data Requirements and Computational Approaches

2008 Fourth International Conference on Natural Computation ◽

10.1109/icnc.2008.414 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

Andreas Roth ◽

Reiner Doluschitz

Keyword(s):

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Regional Assessment ◽

Computational Approaches ◽

The North ◽

The North China Plain ◽

Data Requirements

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Agricultural Sustainability in the Food Bowl of the North China Plain

Outlook on Agriculture ◽

10.5367/000000005774378865 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 149-158 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lin Zhen ◽

Gopal B. Thapa ◽

Gaodi Xie

Keyword(s):

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Agricultural Production ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Farming Practices ◽

The North ◽

The North China Plain ◽

Increase Food Production ◽

The Cost

The North China Plain (NCP) is the food bowl of the country. To feed the growing population, farmers in the area have been using the land very intensively with high inputs to increase food production. The sustainability of such farming practices has attracted the attention of scholars, planners and decision makers. This study analyses the economic and environmental sustainability of the major cropping systems in the NCP, based on selected site-specific indicators. The information necessary for this study was obtained in 2001 through a survey of 270 farm households from four villages in Ningjin county, soil sample analysis, chemical tests for nitrate concentration in groundwater and crop plants, field observations and discussions with key informants, as well as official reports and publications. The findings of the analysis revealed that all cropping systems in the study area were economically sustainable. However, such achievements have been made at a cost to the environment, degradation of natural resources and risk to human health. If these costs are taken into consideration, all cropping systems in the study area cannot be considered sustainable. The study stresses that farming practices that are economically sustainable should not be promoted at the cost of degrading production resources. There is a need for a policy shift from the promotion of agricultural production to sustainable agricultural production. Several policy measures have been outlined for the promotion of sustainable cropping systems in the NCP.

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Modeling Water and Nitrogen Balance of Different Cropping Systems in the North China Plain

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy9110696 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 696 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Shah Jahan Leghari ◽

Kelin Hu ◽

Hao Liang ◽

Yichang Wei

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Grain Yield ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Summer Maize ◽

The North ◽

The North China Plain ◽

Spring Maize ◽

N Use

The North China Plain (NCP) is experiencing serious groundwater level decline and groundwater nitrate contamination due to excessive water pumping and application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer. In this study, grain yield, water and N use efficiencies under different cropping systems including two harvests in 1 year (winter wheat–summer maize) based on farmer (2H1Y)FP and optimized practices (2H1Y)OPT, three harvests in 2 years (winter wheat–summer maize–spring maize, 3H2Y), and one harvest in 1 year (spring maize, 1H1Y) were evaluated using the water-heat-carbon-nitrogen simulator (WHCNS) model. The 2H1YFP system was maintained with 100% irrigation and fertilizer, while crop water requirement and N demand for other cropping systems were optimized and managed by soil testing. In addition, a scenario analysis was also performed under the interaction of linearly increasing and decreasing N rates, and irrigation levels. Results showed that the model performed well with simulated soil water content, soil N concentration, leaf area index, dry matter, and grain yield. Statistically acceptable ranges of root mean square error, Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency, index of agreement values close to 1, and strong correlation coefficients existed between simulated and observed values. We concluded that replacing the prevalent 2H1YFP with 1H1Y would be ecofriendly at the cost of some grain yield decline. This cropping system had the highest average water use (2.1 kg m−3) and N use efficiencies (4.8 kg kg–1) on reduced water (56.64%) and N (81.36%) inputs than 2H1YFP. Whereas 3H2Y showed insignificant results in terms of grain yield, and 2H1YFP was unsustainable. The 2H1YFP system consumed a total of 745 mm irrigation and 1100 kg N ha–1 in two years. When farming practices were optimized for two harvests in 1 year system (2H1Y)OPT, then grain yield improved and water (18.12%) plus N (61.82%) consumptions were minimized. There was an ample amount of N saved, but water conservation was still unsatisfactory. However, considering the results of scenario analyses, it is recommended that winter wheat would be cultivated at <200 mm irrigation by reducing one irrigation event.

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