Achieving food-system sustainability is a multidimensional challenge. In China, a doubling of crop production since 1990 has compromised other dimensions of sustainability
. Although the country is ...promoting various interventions to enhance production efficiency and reduce environmental impacts
, there is little understanding of whether crop switching can achieve more sustainable cropping systems and whether coordinated action is needed to avoid tradeoffs. Here we combine high-resolution data on crop-specific yields, harvested areas, environmental footprints and farmer incomes to first quantify the current state of crop-production sustainability. Under varying levels of inter-ministerial and central coordination, we perform spatial optimizations that redistribute crops to meet a suite of agricultural sustainable development targets. With a siloed approach-in which each government ministry seeks to improve a single sustainability outcome in isolation-crop switching could realize large individual benefits but produce tradeoffs for other dimensions and between regions. In cases of central coordination-in which tradeoffs are prevented-we find marked co-benefits for environmental-impact reductions (blue water (-4.5% to -18.5%), green water (-4.4% to -9.5%), greenhouse gases (GHGs) (-1.7% to -7.7%), fertilizers (-5.2% to -10.9%), pesticides (-4.3% to -10.8%)) and increased farmer incomes (+2.9% to +7.5%). These outcomes of centrally coordinated crop switching can contribute substantially (23-40% across dimensions) towards China's 2030 agricultural sustainable development targets and potentially produce global resource savings. This integrated approach can inform feasible targeted agricultural interventions that achieve sustainability co-benefits across several dimensions.
The sensitivity of agricultural productivity to climate has not been sufficiently quantified. The total factor productivity (TFP) of the US agricultural economy has grown continuously for over half a ...century, with most of the growth typically attributed to technical change. Many studies have examined the effects of local climate on partial productivity measures such as crop yields and economic returns, but these measures cannot account for national-level impacts. Quantifying the relationships between TFP and climate is critical to understanding whether current US agricultural productivity growth will continue into the future. We analyze correlations between regional climate variations and national TFP changes, identify key climate indices, and build a multivariate regression model predicting the growth of agricultural TFP based on a physical understanding of its historical relationship with climate. We show that temperature and precipitation in distinct agricultural regions and seasons explain ∼70% of variations in TFP growth during 1981–2010. To date, the aggregate effects of these regional climate trends on TFP have been outweighed by improvements in technology. Should these relationships continue, however, the projected climate changes could cause TFP to drop by an average 2.84 to 4.34% per year under medium to high emissions scenarios. As a result, TFP could fall to pre-1980 levels by 2050 even when accounting for present rates of innovation. Our analysis provides an empirical foundation for integrated assessment by linking regional climate effects to national economic outcomes, offering a more objective resource for policy making.
•Climate change has negative impacts on the agricultural sector in Hamadan-Bahar plain in Iran.•The economic value of water would increase in the plain, which represents the severity of water ...scarcity in the zone.•Deficit irrigation strategy and upgrading irrigation technology would be potential solutions to the climate change crisis.•The common pool nature of groundwater has always been the major challenge to optimal extraction of these resources.
The present study evaluated the potential impacts of climate change of Hamadan-Bahar plain on dimensions including economical, physiological, hydrological and meteorological aspects. The results showed that climate change in the region has negative impacts on the agricultural sector by reducing the crop yield as well as groundwater balance. In the most optimistic scenario on the horizon of 2090, rainfall and groundwater levels would reduce by 14.4 and 12.3 %, respectively and the average temperature would rise by 14.7 %. Accordingly, the economic value of water would increase by 44 % and the agricultural value-added (net income) would fall by 19 %, indicating the intensification of water shortage crisis and agricultural recession. Also, the results of this study show that optimal deficit irrigation strategy in the production of water intensive crops as well as improving irrigation technologies would be potential solutions to the climate change crisis in the coming years. However, the common pool nature of groundwater resources in addition to capital inadequacy are the challenges faced when adopting these two approaches by farmers.
Abstract
The article presents the results of the study of breeding lines of winter hexaploid triticale in the West Kazakhstan Agrarian Technical University. Zhangir Khan. Selected and recommended for ...inclusion in the competitive variety testing variety samples - carriers of traits important for breeding: high productivity, quality indicators of grain. In terms of yield, they exceeded the performance of grain of the standard triticale variety TI 17. High grain yields were found in the breeding lines (Patriot x Vanguard) (35 c/ha), (Patriot x Vanguard) x (Niklap x Matyrskoe) (29.1 c/ha). ha), 9457-4/14 (26.2 centners/ha), 9523-1/14 (23.8 centners/ha), varieties Run (23.7 centners/ha). An assessment of the physical, biochemical qualities of the grain of triticale breeding lines was carried out. The analysis of baking qualities made it possible to identify lines with good baking properties: (Niklap x Victor) x Antey, KS88T, Antey x Mara. The assessment of the technological and flour-grinding and baking qualities of winter triticale grain made it possible to identify samples that, along with technological advantages, have a whole range of economically valuable properties that can become a variety of triticale for baking purposes.
Food security has been a significant issue for the livelihood of smallholder family farms in highly populated regions and countries. Industrialized farming in more developed countries has increased ...global food supply to meet the demand, but the excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides has negative environmental impacts. Finding sustainable ways to grow more food with a smaller environmental footprint is critical. We developed an integrated cropping system that incorporates four key components: 1) intensified cropping through relay planting or intercropping, 2) within-field strip rotation, 3) soil mulching with available means, such as crop straw, and 4) no-till or reduced tillage. Sixteen field experiments, conducted with a wide range of crop inputs over 12 consecutive years (2006 to 2017), showed that the integrated system with intercropping generates significant synergies-increasing annual crop yields by 15.6 to 49.9% and farm net returns by 39.2% and decreasing the environmental footprint by 17.3%-when compared with traditional monoculture cropping. We conclude that smallholder farmers can achieve the dual goals of growing more food and lowering the environmental footprint by adopting integrated farming systems.
Legumes tend to be nodulated by competitive rhizobia that do not maximize nitrogen (N₂) fixation, resulting in suboptimal yields. Rhizobial nodulation competitiveness and effectiveness at N₂ fixation ...are independent traits, making their measurement extremely time-consuming with low experimental throughput. To transform the experimental assessment of rhizobial competitiveness and effectiveness, we have used synthetic biology to develop reporter plasmids that allow simultaneous high-throughput measurement of N₂ fixation in individual nodules using green fluorescent protein (GFP) and barcode strain identification (Plasmid ID) through next generation sequencing (NGS). In a proof-of-concept experiment using this technology in an agricultural soil, we simultaneously monitored 84 different Rhizobium leguminosarum strains, identifying a supercompetitive and highly effective rhizobial symbiont for peas. We also observed a remarkable frequency of nodule coinfection by rhizobia, with mixed occupancy identified in ~20% of nodules, containing up to six different strains. Critically, this process can be adapted to multiple Rhizobium-legume symbioses, soil types, and environmental conditions to permit easy identification of optimal rhizobial inoculants for field testing to maximize agricultural yield.
Soybean is a major legume crop originating in temperate regions, and photoperiod responsiveness is a key factor in its latitudinal adaptation. Varieties from temperate regions introduced to lower ...latitudes mature early and have extremely low grain yields. Introduction of the long-juvenile (LJ) trait extends the vegetative phase and improves yield under short-day conditions, thereby enabling expansion of cultivation in tropical regions. Here we report the cloning and characterization of J, the major classical locus conferring the LJ trait, and identify J as the ortholog of Arabidopsis thaliana EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3). J depends genetically on the legume-specific flowering repressor E1, and J protein physically associates with the E1 promoter to downregulate its transcription, relieving repression of two important FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) genes and promoting flowering under short days. Our findings identify an important new component in flowering-time control in soybean and provide new insight into soybean adaptation to tropical regions.
•An improved practices of straw and plastic mulching were integrated to intercropping.•The innovative practices serve as a successful farming system in the arid oasis areas.•Intercropping advantage ...is attributed to the synergistic regulation of water use.•The integrated practices alleviated water scarcity via enhancing system productivity.
Synergistic regulation of water competition and compensation is critical for the effective use of water in sustainable intercropping systems. A field experiment was conducted on different measures of plastic mulching and straw retention (no-tillage with straw standing in wheat strip and two-year plastic mulching in maize strip, NTSSI2; no-tillage with straw covering in wheat strip and two-year plastic mulching in maize strip, NTSI2; conventional tillage with straw incorporation in wheat strip and annual new plastic mulching in maize strip, TSI; and conventional tillage without straw retention in wheat strip and annual new plastic mulching in maize strip, CTI), which were used in strip intercropping from 2014 to 2016. We determined the effects of integrated measures on coordinating water competition and compensation between inter-strips. The intercropped wheat competed for soil water from the maize strips during the wheat growth period. After wheat harvest, the intercropped maize obtained compensatory soil water from the wheat strips. The results showed that the NTSI2 treatment favorably weakened wheat competition of soil water from the maize strip and strengthened wheat strip compensation of soil water for maize growth compared with CTI treatment. Thus, compared to the CTI treatment, the potential movement amount of soil water in NTSI2 was lowest, decreased by 25.8–58.9% during wheat growth period, but it arrived at the highest, increased by 42.2–60.8% after wheat harvest. The NTSI2 treatment improved grain yield by 13.8–17.1% and enhanced WUE by 12.4–17.2% compared with CTI. The improvement in crop yield and WUE was partly attributed to the coordinated water competition between the inter-strips and the water compensation effect from the early-maturing wheat to the late-maturing maize.
•The effects of fertilization on yield trend and sustainable yield index were studied.•The contribution rate of soil capacity in paddy and wheat fields rose over time.•The combined use of both manure ...and chemical fertilizer can improve crop grain yield.•Mixed manure with fertilizer use can improve crop yield stability and sustainability.•Sustainable yield index indicates that rice yield is more sustainable than wheat yield.
Little is known about the effects of different fertilizers and manure use on the yield stability and sustainability of crop in a rice-wheat cropping system. Therefore, a 34-year field experiment (conducted from 1982 to 2015) was used to evaluate the effect of continuous application of inorganic fertilizers and organic manure, supplied at different combinations, on the stability and sustainability of rice and wheat yields. Eight treatments consisted of unfertilized control (CK), inorganic fertilizers (N, NP, NPK) and organic manure (M) either alone or in combination (MN, MNP, MNPK). There was no significant trend of rice grain yield over time for any of the treatments. Wheat yield had an increasing tendency in all the fertilization treatments, including the unfertilized control. Organic manure in combination with chemical fertilizer supported high rice and wheat yields and sustainable yield index (SYI), with decreased coefficient of variance (CV) of rice and wheat yields. The SYI value clearly indicates that rice yield was more sustainable than wheat yield. In conclusion, the combined use of both organic manure and inorganic fertilizer can improve not only crop grain yield but also yield stability and sustainability.
Rye (Secale cereale L.) is an exceptionally climate-resilient cereal crop, used extensively to produce improved wheat varieties via introgressive hybridization and possessing the entire repertoire of ...genes necessary to enable hybrid breeding. Rye is allogamous and only recently domesticated, thus giving cultivated ryes access to a diverse and exploitable wild gene pool. To further enhance the agronomic potential of rye, we produced a chromosome-scale annotated assembly of the 7.9-gigabase rye genome and extensively validated its quality by using a suite of molecular genetic resources. We demonstrate applications of this resource with a broad range of investigations. We present findings on cultivated rye's incomplete genetic isolation from wild relatives, mechanisms of genome structural evolution, pathogen resistance, low-temperature tolerance, fertility control systems for hybrid breeding and the yield benefits of rye-wheat introgressions.
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