Diversifying crop rotations with pulses enhances system productivity

Abstract

Agriculture in rainfed dry areas is often challenged by inadequate water and nutrient supplies. Summerfallowing has been used to conserve rainwater and promote the release of nitrogen via the N mineralization of soil organic matter. However, summerfallowing leaves land without any crops planted for one entire growing season, creating lost production opportunity. Additionally, summerfallowing has serious environmental consequences. It is unknown whether alternative systems can be developed to retain the beneficial features of summerfallowing with little or no environmental impact. Here, we show that diversifying cropping systems with pulse crops can enhance soil water conservation, improve soil N availability, and increase system productivity. A 3-yr cropping sequence study, repeated for five cycles in Saskatchewan from 2005 to 2011, shows that both pulse-and summerfallow-based systems enhances soil N availability, but the pulse system employs biological fixation of atmospheric N 2 , whereas the summerfallow-system relies on 'mining' soil N with depleting soil organic matter. In a 3-yr cropping cycle, the pulse system increased total grain production by 35.5%, improved protein yield by 50.9%, and enhanced fertilizer-N use efficiency by 33.0% over the summerfallow system. Diversifying cropping systems with pulses can serve as an effective alternative to summerfallowing in rainfed dry areas.

How do selected crop rotations affect soil organic carbon in boreo-temperate systems? A systematic review protocol

“…Further benefits can be gained where attributes of these crops act together to maintain or enhance production levels [19,20]. Thus, by using a set of more diverse crops or by introducing perennial grasses that improves SOC sequestration, the productivity can be increased at the same time as minimising environmental impacts [21,22].…”

“…The effects of crop rotations on SOC have previously been reviewed [27,28] and various authors have investigated topics such as inclusion of leys [25], legumes [21], or crop combinations [29]. However, none of these reviews have been systematic in nature.…”

“…All carbon measures will be converted to SOC and study findings will be standardised according to study duration. In order to account for the potentially non-linear nature of changes to soil carbon, a categorical coding variable (coded as 'short-term' [10-19 years], 'medium-term' [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] or 'long-term' [>29]) will be included in meta-analyses as a moderator to investigate the influence of study duration. Data from studies quoting carbon stocks rather than concentrations will be converted to concentration to enable equivalent effect sizes to be incorporated in one metaanalysis.…”

Improving Farming Practices for Sustainable Soil Use in the Humid Tropics and Rainforest Ecosystem Health

“…Another problem is that the leaching of agrochemicals used in conventional agriculture systems (such as Glyphosate ((N phosphonomethyl) glycine) seems to be mainly determined by the soil structure and rainfall [170]. Tropical soils normally have good structure and receive intense rainfall.…”

Effect of preceding crop and nitrogen application on malting barley quality

“…These practices included strategic N fertilizer application (McKenzie et al 2005;O'Donovan et al 2011;Edney et al 2012), proper cultivar selection (O'Donovan et al 2011;Edney et al, 2012;O'Donovan et al 2015), optimal seeding dates and rates (McKenzie et al 2005;O'Donovan et al 2012;O'Donovan et al 2016), and appropriate crop rotations and tillage practices (Turkington et al 2012;Sainju et al 2013;Carr et al 2014). …”