scholarly journals Soil fertility – the only possible foundation for more sustainable agriculture

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 00119
Author(s):  
Boris Boincean ◽  
David Dent
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
The Face ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Perennial Legumes ◽  
Reductionist Approach

The reductionist approach to intensification of agriculture has created unanticipated economic, ecological and social consequences. Across the steppes, elimination of perennial legumes from the crop rotation and even elimination of crop rotation, large areas under black fallow, and the demise of crop and animal husbandry are draining soil fertility – and in many places loss of the soil itself. Data from long-term field experiments demonstrate the importance of perennial legumes in crop rotation for nitrogen- and water-use efficiency, accumulation of soil organic matter in deeper soil layers, and resilience in the face of drought.

scholarly journals Soil Fertility Management in Westsik’s Crop Rotation Experiment

2001 ◽  
pp. 34-39
Author(s):  
János Lazányi
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Continuous Production ◽  
Farmyard Manure ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Soil Fertility Management

The crop rotation experiment, established by Vilmos Westsik in 1929, is the best known and most remarkable example of continuous production in Hungary. It is still used to study the effects of organic manure treatment, develop models and predict the likely effects of different cropping systems on soil properties and crop yields. Westsik’s crop rotation experiment provides data of immediate value to farmers concerning the applications of fertilisers, green, straw and farmyard manure. The experiment also provides a resource of yield, plant and soil data sets for scientific research into the soil and plant processes which control soil fertility, and into the sustainability of production without environmental deterioration. The maintenance of Westsik’s crop rotation experiment can be used to illustrate the value of long-term field experiments.

scholarly journals THE GRAIN CROP YIELD IN DIFFERENT CROP ROTATION AND EFFICIENCY OF HERBICIDES AND FUNGICIDES TREATMENT

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Andris Lejiņš ◽  
Biruta Lejiņa
Keyword(s):  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Perennial Grass ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Winter Rye ◽  
Rotation System ◽  
Pesticide Treatment

Complex field experiments were carried out in Agricultural research institute in 1969. The field trials included five different crop rotation systems. In each 6-field rotation system the specific percentage of cereals (%) varied from 50 to 100%, perennial grass (clover+ timothy) - 16.7 to 33.3%. The highest winter rye yields were obtained from crop rotation systems with cereal proportion up to 66%. Including buckwheat in the crop rotation winter rye cultivation is highly productive in crop rotation systems with cereal proportion even up to 83%. Yield of winter rye in long-term monocultural sowings decreases even up to 0.74h-1. Winter ryetreatment with herbicide Grodil increases its yield up to 0.40 ha'1. Foreplants of barley according to their good influence on barley yield (descending): buckwheat, oats, winter lye. Barley yield in long-term monocultural sowings decreases for up to 1.17 t ha-1.Oats in crop rotation systems with cereal proportion up to 83% had very low yield amount alterations after different foreplants. Essential oat yield decreasement was noticed in perennial monocultural sowings. The best foreplants for spring wheat are buckwheat and lupine. The highest yield of buckwheat is get from monocultural sowings, but using potatoes as buckwheat foreplant gives essential yield decreasement. Distribution of perennial weeds, especially quickgrass, is 7,4 times more in crop rotation systems with high cereal proportion than in systems where also buckwheat and potatoes are cultivated. Treatment of herbicides and fungicides is more effective in monocultural sowings than in crop rotational systems, however increasement of crop yield after pesticide treatment is less remarkable than if we follow right crop rotation and choose optimal foreplants for each culture. Latest results from years 2002 to 2004 are shown in this article and are considered to be an addition to previous publications.

scholarly journals Bacterivorous nematodes correlate with soil fertility and improved crop production in an organic minimum tillage system

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan H. Schmidt ◽  
Johannes Hallmann ◽  
Maria R. Finckh
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Biomass ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Tillage Systems ◽  
Minimum Tillage ◽  
Cover Cropping ◽  
Organic Farming Systems

AbstractOrganic farming systems are generally based on intensive soil tillage for seed bed preparation and weed control, which in the long-term often leads to reduced soil fertility. To avoid this, organic farming systems need to adopt conservation agriculture practices, such as minimum tillage and diligent crop rotations. However, minimum tillage generally delays soil warming in spring causing reduced nitrogen mineralization and thus poor plant growth. This negative effect needs to be compensated. We hypothesize that, in a diverse crop rotation, organic minimum tillage based on frequent cover cropping and application of dead mulch will improve soil fertility and thus crop production as confirmed by a number of chemical and biological soil indicators.We made use of two long-term field experiments that compare typical organic plough-based systems (25 cm) with minimum tillage systems (<15 cm) including application of transfer mulch to potatoes. Both tillage systems were either fertilized with compost or equivalent amounts of mineral potassium and phosphate. In 2019, soil samples from both fields were collected and analyzed for soil pH, organic carbon, macro-, micronutrients, microbial biomass, microbial activity and total nematode abundance. In addition, performance of pea in the same soils was determined under greenhouse conditions.Results from the field experiments showed an increase of macronutrients (+52%), micronutrients (+11%), microbial biomass (+51%), microbial activity (+86%), and bacterivorous nematodes (+112%) in minimum tillage compared with the plough-based system. In the accompanying greenhouse bioassay, pea biomass was 45% higher under minimum than under plough tillage. In conclusion, the study showed that under organic conditions, soil fertility can be improved in minimum tillage systems by intensive cover cropping and application of dead mulch to levels higher than in a plough-based system. Furthermore, the abundance of bacterivorous nematodes can be used as a reliable indicator for the soil fertility status.

scholarly journals Crop sequence effects on energy efficiency and land demand in a long-term fertilisation trial

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (No. 12) ◽  
pp. 739-746
Author(s):  
Gerhard Moitzi ◽  
Reinhard Neugschwandtner ◽  
Hans-Peter Kaul ◽  
Helmut Wagentristl
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Output ◽  
Winter Rye ◽  
Energy Use Efficiency ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Bare Fallow

The effect of crop sequences (CR – continuous winter rye; CropR – three-field crop rotation of winter rye-spring barley-bare fallow) and fertilisation systems (unfertilised control, mineral fertiliser (NPK), farmyard manure (FYM)) on crop yield, energy efficiency indicators and land demand were analysed in a long-term experiment under Pannonian climate conditions. Due to lower fuel consumption in the bare fallow, the total fuel consumption for CropR was 27% lower than in CR. It was for NPK and FYM fertilisation by 29% and 42% higher than in the control. Although the energy output was lower in CropR than CR, the energy use efficiency for grain production increased by 35% and for above-ground biomass production by 20%. Overall crop sequences, the NPK treatment had higher crop yields, energy outputs and net-energy output with a lower energy use efficiency than the unfertilised control. CropR increased the land demand just by 20% in comparison to CR, although one-third of the land was not used for crop production. The land demand could be decreased with fertilisation by 50% (NPK) or 48% (FYM). A bare fallow year in the crop rotation decreased the crop yield, energy input and increased the energy use efficiency and land demand.  

scholarly journals Soil organic carbon sequestration according to two Geoset long-term field experiments in the Moscow region

2020 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 04002
Author(s):  
K.O. Prokopyeva ◽  
V.A. Romanenkov ◽  
N.K. Sidorenkova ◽  
P.V. Krasilnikov
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Organic Fertilizer ◽  
Moscow Region ◽  
Mineral Fertilizers ◽  
Plant Residues ◽  
Organic C ◽  
C Stocks

The feasibility of implementing the "4 ppm" initiative, which assumes an annual increase in organic carbon stocks of agricultural soils in the layer 0-40 cm, was estimated with the dynamic carbon model RothC in two long-term DAOS experiments in the Moscow region, conducted in neighbouring fields for 74 and 76 years. Treatments included absolute control, application of organic, mineral, organic and mineral fertilizers at increasing rates. One of the experiments showed the growth of C stocks 12‰ in the layer 0-20 cm in the first 20 years in treatments with mineral fertilization, and 17‰ with the additional application of manure in an average annual rate of 10 Mg·ha-1. The accumulation of C allowed increasing its stock by 18-25%. Still, with the subsequent decline in crop rotation productivity, there was a loss of part of the previously accumulated C. In another experiment, at close values of annual C input, there was a loss of initial C stock due to the history of land use. The crop rotation adjustment provided a 3-8 ‰ increase of soil C in the 0-20 cm layer in the first 20 years after introduction but was insufficient to match the "4 ppm" initiative. In the long term, the organic fertilizer system had an advantage over the mineral one in ensuring the stability of organic C stocks in the arable layer. However, the management of C sequestration was complicated in the non-equilibrium state of the carbon system "plant residues-organic fertilizer-soil".

scholarly journals Influence of Crop Rotation and Soil Fertility Management Strategies on Water Use Efficiency of Wheat in a Changing Climate in Njoro Sub-County in Kenya

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-76
Author(s):  
P. A. Ooro ◽  
R. J. Birech ◽  
J. N. Malinga ◽  
E. Thuranira ◽  
C. Digo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Grain Yield ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Ammonium Nitrate ◽  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Harvesting ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Fertility Management ◽  
Use Efficiency

Aims: The study determined the effect of soil fertility management (inorganic and organic N sources) and short term crop rotation (cereal – legumes cropping systems) on water use efficiency of wheat in high potential areas. Study Design: A randomized complete block design was used with split-split-plot arrangement replicated three times. Three factors evaluated included water harvesting (WH), crop rotation (CR) and soil fertility management (SFM). The data obtained were subjected to an analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Genstat statistical package while the mean separation was performed using least significance differences (P =.05). Place and Duration of Study: The trial was conducted at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) fields based in Njoro for three years between 2014 and 2016 during rainy seasons. Methodology: Water harvesting was evaluated at consisted of flat beds (WH1) and tied ridges (WH2), crop rotation was tested at four levels comprising of Wheat- Dolichos lablab (Lablab purpureum)-Wheat- L. purpureum (CR1); Wheat-Greenpea (P. sativum) –Wheat (Triticum aestivum L)- P. sativum (CR2); T. aestivum L-potato- P. sativum –Potato (Solanum tuberosum) (CR3); and Wheat-Wheat-Wheat-Wheat) (CR4). Six different soil fertility management (SFM) strategies evaluated included SFM1 = untreated control; SFM2 = Farm Yard Manure at 5 t ha-1; SFM3 = Green manure (L.eucaena triachandra) at 2.5 mt ha-1; SFM4 = Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) at 25 kg N ha-1; SFM5 = Calcuim Ammonium Nitrate at 50 kg N ha-1; and SFM6 = Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) at 75 kg N ha-1. The Water harvesting (WH) and SFM were fixed on the same plot at the form and rate for the entire period of the study while crops were rotated between seasons. Water use efficiency was derived as a ratio of water use and grain yield and biomass. Results: Results revealed significant (P =.05) effect of crop rotation and soil fertility management on water use efficiency. However, water harvesting did not influence. While interaction of CR and SFM significantly (P =.05) influenced WUE and grain yield. Significant influence was also observed on WUE due to an interaction between WH and SFM. Dolichos lablab (L. purpureum) and green pea as pre-crops resulted in higher yield than when potato was the pre-crop and continuous wheat.  Use of inorganic N fertilizer with L. purpureum as a pre-crop resulted in higher grain yield than all other soil fertility management strategies evaluated. In conclusion, the use of green pea as a pre-crop during the short rain followed by wheat in long rains is a beneficial crop rotation systems and a climate smart strategy. In addition, organic N sources should be recommended for sustainable wheat production because it will positively influence the accumulation and slow release of soil moisture for increased water use efficiency.

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