Managing soil fertility in organic farming systems

Watson, C. A.; Atkinson, David; Gosling, Peter; Jackson, L.; Rayns, Francis

doi:10.1111/j.1475-2743.2002.tb00265.x

Cited by 292 publications

(262 citation statements)

References 74 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

221

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…plough and/or rotary tiller) (Watson et al, 2002). However, since tillage is an energy and labour consuming and soil disturbing operation, in recent years, systems that use no/reduced tillage have received increasing interest.…”

Section: Break Crops: Green Manure Vs Roller Crimper Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic No-Till with Roller Crimpers: Agro-ecosystem Services and Applications in Organic Mediterranean Vegetable Productions

Canali¹,

Diacono²,

Campanelli³

et al. 2015

SAR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In sustainable/organic farming systems, Agro-ecological Service Crops (ASC) may provide many beneficial ecosystem services, when they are introduced as buffer zones, living mulches or break crops. This outlook paper focuses on: i) the role of ASC genotype and mixtures as catch crops for soil mineral nitrogen (NO 3 -) surplus, which is returned to the system after their termination; ii) living mulches and break crops management strategies, particularly comparing ploughing under (green manure) with termination by roller crimper; iii) summary of three recent case studies that have assessed the effectiveness of ASC management by no-till with roller crimper for tomato, zucchini and melon crops, under Mediterranean conditions. Recently, in central Italy yield and quality results on organic tomato indicated that this crop was suitable following termination of leguminous ASC by roller crimping. Similarly, this ASC management increased yield by about 70% compared to green manure in zucchini crop. In southern Italy, no substantial differences were found in the ASC management and organic fertilizer interactions in organic melon, confirming the suitability of matching these strategies to sustain crop production. More studies should be encouraged to further empower the use of ASC in a wide range of agro-climatic conditions. Furthermore, additional studies on the roller crimper should be performed, mainly to understand the dynamic of N mineralisation in the soil-mulch interface and synchronisation of N release with cash crop N requirements. Finally, Decision Supporting Systems (DSS) for ASC introduction into vegetable cropping systems should be developed.

show abstract

Section: Break Crops: Green Manure Vs Roller Crimper Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic No-Till with Roller Crimpers: Agro-ecosystem Services and Applications in Organic Mediterranean Vegetable Productions

Canali¹,

Diacono²,

Campanelli³

et al. 2015

SAR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Phosphorus balances for organically managed arable cropping systems indicate that often more P is removed with the products than recycled via external inputs (Watson et al 2002;Berry et al 2003;Kolbe 2015;Ohm et al 2017), leading to decreasing soil status in plant available soil P (Løes and Ogaard 1997;Kolbe 2015) which threatens the long-term sustainability of organic farming systems. Moreover, P shortage may also limit other processes such as symbiotic N 2 fixation (Römer and Lehne 2004;Oberson et al 2013) that have a direct impact on the farm nitrogen cycle and on yields.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term soil accumulation of potentially toxic elements and selected organic pollutants through application of recycled phosphorus fertilizers for organic farming conditions

Weissengruber

Möller

Puschenreiter

et al. 2018

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The pollutant input and the risk of contamination by long-term application of recycled P fertilizers (RPFs) in European agricultural soils were estimated by a mass balance approach. Calculations based on literature data were carried out for the potentially toxic elements (PTEs) Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn and for the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) PCBs, PAHs and polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins and -furans. The PTE accumulation estimation during 200 years of fertilizer application, equivalent to 11 kg P ha -1 year -1 , the mean P export via harvested products on European stockless organic farms, regarded soil background concentrations and proposed threshold concentrations. For PTEs, inputs were fertilizer application, atmospheric deposition and liming, output processes were leaching and crop harvest. The effect of varying site conditions was assessed by considering two precipitation excess (F) values and two soil pH values. For POPs, fertilizer application and the half-life time were considered. The PTE accumulation risk was low for most RPFs. For the analysed POPs no accumulation was found. The highest accumulation was found for all PTEs at pH 7 and F = 0.1 m year -1 , the lowest at pH 5 and F = 0.3 m year -1 . A high P concentration in fertilizers resulted in a low PTE flow per unit of P. Composts had the highest PTE accumulation risk due to lowest P contents. Struvite, meat and bone meal, digestate of catering waste, ash and biosolids would be better suited as P fertilizers. The use of fertilizers should be regulated based on their pollutant-to-nutrient ratio.

show abstract

“…It is important to note that there is a lack of scientific evidence to support such political actions (Trewavas, 2004). Nevertheless, organic farming is the only farming system to be legally defined in various regulations, due to the fact that it is believed to be superior in terms of sustainability (Watson et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use Efficiency and Leaching of Nutrients in Organic and Conventional Cropping Systems in Sweden

Bergström

Kirchmann

Aronsson

et al.

Organic Crop Production – Ambitions and Limitations

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the past few years, organic farming has been proposed as a possible way of reducing N leaching from agricultural soils and improving the use efficiency of plant nutrients. This is, to a large extent, considered to be attributed to the fact that synthetic fertilisers are not allowed in such systems and the N inputs mainly originate in various types of organic manures. In this overview, results from a number of Swedish field studies are presented in which crop yields, nutrient-use efficiencies and leaching in organic and conventional systems are evaluated. Some studies were conducted in lysimeters and others in large tile-drained field plots. In two lysimeter experiments, leaching of N derived from either poultry manure or red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) green manure were compared with fertiliser N, all labeled with 15-N. In the lysimeters on which poultry manure was applied, 32% of N applied leached during three years, whereas only about 3% leached in ammonium nitrate fertilised lysimeters. In plots on a sandy soil, annual N leaching loads averaged over the whole 6-yr crop rotation reached 39 kg N ha -1 in the organic rotations and 25 kg N ha -1 in the conventional rotation. Phosphorusleaching loads were overall small in all systems, whereas K leaching was highest in the conventional rotation (i.e., on average, 27 kg ha -1 yr -1 ). In terms of crop yields, they were reduced by 20 to 80% in the organic rotations compared to the same crops in the conventional rotations. This was explained in terms of N deficiency, weed competition, and infestation of crop diseases in the organic systems. These results suggest that organic crop production uses agricultural soils less efficiently, with no benefit for water quality.

show abstract

Managing soil fertility in organic farming systems

Cited by 292 publications

References 74 publications

Organic No-Till with Roller Crimpers: Agro-ecosystem Services and Applications in Organic Mediterranean Vegetable Productions

Organic No-Till with Roller Crimpers: Agro-ecosystem Services and Applications in Organic Mediterranean Vegetable Productions

Long-term soil accumulation of potentially toxic elements and selected organic pollutants through application of recycled phosphorus fertilizers for organic farming conditions

Use Efficiency and Leaching of Nutrients in Organic and Conventional Cropping Systems in Sweden

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About