Depressed attainable wheat yields under continuous annual no-till agriculture suggest declining soil productivity

Ernst, Oswaldo; Kemanian, Armen R.; Mazzilli, Sebastián R.; Cadenazzi, Mónica; Dogliotti, Santiago

doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2015.11.005

Cited by 35 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Most importantly, these models have little feedback from soil properties that may limit root growth. Ernst et al (2016), working with wheat, and Stefani-Fae et al 2020, working with soybean, have shown that crop yield responds strongly to soil physical properties that are best related to field measured soil hydraulic conductivity. Field measured saturated hydraulic conductivity can exceed that obtained from pedotransfer functions usually used in models by a factor of 10-20 (Stefani-Fae et al, 2020).…”

Section: Roots and Soilsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Crop Models Identify Critical Gaps in Genetics, Environment, and Management Interactions?

Stöckle

Kemanian

2020

Front. Plant Sci.

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Increasing food demand under climate change constraints may challenge and strain agricultural systems. The use of crop models to assess genotypes performance across diverse target environments and management practices, i.e., the genetic × environment × management interaction (GEMI), can help understand suitability of genotype and agronomic practices, and possibly accelerate turnaround in plant breeding programs. However, the readiness of models to support these tasks can be debated. In this article, we point out modeling and data limitations and argue the need for evaluation and improvement of relevant process algorithms as well as model convergence. Under conditions suitable for plant growth, without meteorological extremes or soil limitation to root exploration, models can simulate resource capture, growth, and yield with relative ease. As stresses accumulate, the plant species-and genotype-specific attributes and their interactions with the soil and atmospheric environment generate a large range of responses, including conditions where resources become so limiting as to make yields very low. The space in between high and low yields is where most rainfed production occurs, and where the current model and user skill at representing GEMI varies. We also review studies comparing the performance of a large number of crop models and the lessons learned. The overall message is that improvement of models appears as a necessary condition for progress, and perhaps relevancy. Model ensembles help mitigate data input, model, and user-driven uncertainty for some but not all applications, sometimes at a very high cost. Successful model-based assessment of GEMI not only requires better crop models and knowledgeable users, but also a realistic representation of the environmental conditions of the landscape where crops are grown, which is not trivial given the 3D nature of water and nutrient transport. Models remain the best quantitative repository of our knowledge on crop functioning; they contain a narrative of plant, soil, and atmospheric functioning in computer language and train the mind to couple processes. But in our quest to tame GEMI, will they lead the way or just ride along history?

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Section: Roots and Soilsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Crop Models Identify Critical Gaps in Genetics, Environment, and Management Interactions?

Stöckle

Kemanian

2020

Front. Plant Sci.

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“…For example, considering only wheat on agricultural planning, the loss can be around 500 kg ha -1 (Mazzilli et al, 2016). Therefore, crop rotation can keep the crop yield up and reduce yield risks (Ernst et al, 2016).…”

Section: Understanding the Control Of Soil Acidity And Relative Yieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yield index of crops grown under no-tillage after superficial application of micronized liming materials (MLM) on the soil

Nogaroli

Fonseca

2020

Aust J Crop Sci

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The development of strategies for the control of soil acidity in production systems using micronized liming material (MLM) could be a strategy in areas under no-till (NT) to produce high crops yield. The micronized liming material (MLM) have faster reaction on the soil surface even without incorporation to the soil. The experimental design used was completely randomized blocks in split-plot with four replications in a Typic Distrudept under NT treated with MLM. In the main plots the dolomitic limestone (DL) and MLM (granulated micronized calcite (GMC); granulated micronized dolomite (GMD) and carbonated suspension (CS) were studied. In the subplots, four doses of liming materials aiming were assigned to increase soil base saturation (BS) to 50, 70 and 90 %, besides of control treatment. We measured the relative yield (RY), relative yield change (RYC) and production efficiency (PE) of wheat, soybean, black oat and maize during four consecutive years (2012 to 2016). The MLM presented major RY and PE along experimental period than DL. Besides, the major RYC of MLM refers to lower responsiveness, major residual effect as well as major or maintenance crops yield. Better results were found in the BS dose aiming to 61 % for all the liming materials studied for PE, showing that it is the adequate BS for control of acidity in Typic Distrudept.

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“…Organic agriculture is thought of as an environmentally friendly and profitable way of producing healthy food Wachter 2016, Bhowmik et al 2017a). Although conventional agriculture worldwide has steadily moved towards simplified, annual monoculture systems that are enabled by agrochemical and notill technologies (Ernst et al 2016), organic agriculture has moved in the opposite direction, integrating tillage with cover crops in diverse rotations. Cover crops are grown for purposes other than harvesting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic fertility inputs synergistically increase denitrification‐derived nitrous oxide emissions in agroecosystems

Saha

Kaye

Bhowmik

et al. 2021

Ecological Applications

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Soil fertility in organic agriculture relies on microbial cycling of nutrient inputs from legume cover crops and animal manure. However, large quantities of labile carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in these amendments may promote the production and emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) from soils. Better ecological understanding of the N2O emission controls may lead to new management strategies to reduce these emissions. We measured soil N2O emission for two growing seasons in four corn–soybean–winter grain rotations with tillage, cover crop, and manure management variations typical of organic agriculture in temperate and humid North America. To identify N2O production pathways and mitigation opportunities, we supplemented N2O flux measurements with determinations of N2O isotopomer composition and microbiological genomic DNA abundances in microplots where we manipulated cover crop and manure additions. The N input from legume‐rich cover crops and manure prior to corn planting made the corn phase the main source of N2O emissions, averaging 9.8 kg/ha of N2O‐N and representing 80% of the 3‐yr rotations’ total emissions. Nitrous oxide emissions increased sharply when legume cover crop and manure inputs exceeded 1.8 and 4 Mg/ha (dry matter), respectively. Removing the legume aboveground biomass before corn planting to prevent co‐location of fresh biomass and manure decreased N2O emissions by 60% during the corn phase. The co‐occurrence of peak N2O emission and high carbon dioxide emission suggests that oxygen (O2) consumption likely caused hypoxia and bacterial denitrification. This interpretation is supported by the N2O site preference values trending towards denitrification during peak emissions with limited N2O reduction, as revealed by the N2O δ15N and δ18O and the decrease in clade I nosZ gene abundance following incorporation of cover crops and manure. Thus, accelerated microbial O2 consumption seems to be a critical control of N2O emissions in systems with large additions of decomposable C and N substrates. Because many agricultural systems rely on combined fertility inputs from legumes and manures, our research suggests that controlling the rate and timing of organic input additions, as well as preventing the co‐location of legume cover crops and manure, could mitigate N2O emissions.

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Depressed attainable wheat yields under continuous annual no-till agriculture suggest declining soil productivity

Cited by 35 publications

References 41 publications

Can Crop Models Identify Critical Gaps in Genetics, Environment, and Management Interactions?

Can Crop Models Identify Critical Gaps in Genetics, Environment, and Management Interactions?

Yield index of crops grown under no-tillage after superficial application of micronized liming materials (MLM) on the soil

Organic fertility inputs synergistically increase denitrification‐derived nitrous oxide emissions in agroecosystems

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