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A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 8745

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xing Wang

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Guest Editor

College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: conservation agriculture; crop rotation; nutrient transformation; agro-ecosystem

Dr. Jian-Ying Qi

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Guest Editor

College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Interests: conservation agriculture; agro-ecosystem; soil carbon sequestration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Zheng-Rong Kan

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Guest Editor

College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Interests: resource use efficiency; soil quality; agricultural sustainability assessment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable agriculture management aims to maximize crop yields and profitability while minimizing negative impacts on the environment and preserving the health and fertility of the soil. In the modern era, concerns about environmental degradation, climate change, and food security have led to a renewed focus on sustainable management and tillage practices in agriculture.

This Special Issue will focus on research and advancements in practices and technologies that promote sustainable agriculture and improve soil health through effective agriculture management. Some examples of cutting-edge research on this topic include precision agriculture, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, and so on.

We encourage prospective authors to submit related distinguished research or review manuscripts focused on (but not limited to) the following topics:

Soil health and crop productivity.
Reduction in soil erosion and compaction.
Agro-ecosystem sustainability strategy.
Optimization and sustainability assessment of regional agricultural production patterns.
The role of precision agriculture and other technologies in optimizing tillage practices.
Case studies of successful sustainable tillage management in different agricultural systems.
The economic and environmental benefits of sustainable agriculture management.
Management and efficient utilization of soil nutrients in farmland.
Carbon sequestration and emission reduction.

Dr. Xing Wang
Dr. Jian-Ying Qi
Dr. Zheng-Rong Kan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

agricultural sustainability assessment
nutrient management
cropping system
soil carbon sequestration
greenhouse gas emissions
crop productivity
resource use efficiency
soil quality

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3965 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Organic Matter Addition on Soil Carbon Contents, CO₂ Emissions, and Bacterial Compositions in a Paddy Field in South China

by Xiangbin Yao, Xuechan Zhang, Meiyang Duan, Ya Yang, Qihuan Xie, Haowen Luo, Jiemei Peng, Zhaowen Mo, Shenggang Pan and Xiangru Tang

Agronomy 2024, 14(3), 443; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14030443 - 24 Feb 2024

Viewed by 483

Abstract

Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) contents and reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in paddy soil fields can result in positive impacts on climate change mitigation and soil quality. However, SOC accumulation and its microbial driving factors under enhanced fertilization strategies (e.g., organic matter application) are still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of organic matter addition on SOC variations, CO₂ fluxes, and their relationships with soil bacterial compositions and functions through a 6-year fertilizer experiment in rice fields involving two fertilization types, namely chemical fertilizer (NPK) and chemical fertilizer combined with organic matter (NPK+OM). The results showed significantly higher and lower SOC contents (p < 0.05) in the 10–20 cm soil layer under the NPK+OM treatment before rice transplanting and after rice harvest, respectively, than those under the NPK treatment. The lower SOC contents after rice harvest might be due to the great nutrient consumption, resulting in higher rice yields in the NPK+OM than those in the NPK treatment by 6.68 to 32.35%. Compared with NPK, NPK+OM reduced the in-situ CO₂ fluxes by 38.70–118.59%. However, the ex-situ SOC mineralization rates were not affected by NPK+OM in the 0–10 and 10–20 cm soil layers. The 16S rRNA sequence indicated a significant increase in the abundance of non-singleton amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) in the NPK+OM treatment scenario compared to those in the NPK treatment scenario. The top three most important soil bacterial phylum influenced by NPK+OM were LCP-89, BRC1, and Rokubacteria in April, as well as Firmicutes, Nitrospinae, and BRC1 in July. Soil Actinobacteria was negatively correlated with the SOC contents in April and July. The results of the present study demonstrate the economic and ecological benefits of the organic matter addition in rice production, as well as the contribution of soil bacteria to SOC accumulation and CO₂ emission reduction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Tillage Practice in Agriculture)

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18 pages, 3486 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Improving the Allocation of Light-Temperature Resources and Increasing Yield of Rice through Early Sowing and Increasing Nitrogen

by Ningning Ren, Jian Lu, Shuangbing Zhu, Congcong Shen, Bin Du and Kai Chen

Agronomy 2023, 13(12), 2989; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13122989 - 05 Dec 2023

Viewed by 676

Abstract

This study explored the effects of the sowing stage and nitrogen application rate on the grain yield and its allocation of light-temperature resources over a 9-year experiment from 2011 to 2019. Measurement indicators include the effective accumulative temperature on different growth durations, leaf area index (LAI), above-ground biomass production, and harvest index (HI). Methods: A split-plot design was arranged in the treatment, with N supply as the main plot and the sowing stage as the subplot. The main plots consisted of two nitrogen treatments: low nitrogen (LN: 120 kg ha⁻¹) and high nitrogen (HN: 180 kg ha⁻¹). The subplots contained two sowing stages: the early sowing stage (ES) and the late sowing stage (LS). Results: Compared with LNLS, LNES, and HNLS from 2011 to 2019, HNES of HHZ increased the grain yield by 9.5%, 2.5%, and 5.3%, while the difference in grain yield in YY8 was higher than HHZ, especially under HNES. Compared with LNLS, LNES, and HNLS from 2011 to 2019, HNES of HHZ increased the panicle number by 6.0%, 5.9%, and 1.0%, and HNES of YY8 increased by 12.7%, 11.4%, and 3.8%. Compared with HNLS of HHZ, LNES, LNLS, and HNES decreased the spikelets per panicle by 2.3%, 2.9%, and 1.1%, and decreased by 3.5%, 1.9%, and 2.2% in YY8. The early sowing or increasing N supply significantly increased the dry matter accumulated, grain weight, LAI, and HI. The higher grain yield in LNES was more closely related to the average temperature and the number of spikelets per panicle. The grain yield in HNES was more dependent on the effective accumulative temperature. Conclusions: Sowing in mid-May and increasing the N application (180 kg ha⁻¹) are beneficial to the allocation of light temperature and the increase in yield. Therefore, this research provides a theoretical basis for improving rice yield and optimizing the utilization of light-temperature resources in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Tillage Practice in Agriculture)

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19 pages, 339 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria and Crop Residue in Rice–Wheat System Cultivated with Favorable Tillage Influence Crop Productivity, Nutrient Uptake, Soil Quality, and Profitability in the Terai Agro-Ecological Zone of West Bengal, India

by Rajeev Padbhushan, Abhas Kumar Sinha, Upendra Kumar, Prateek M. Bhattacharya and Parthendu Poddar

Agronomy 2023, 13(10), 2454; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13102454 - 22 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 975

Abstract

A field study was conducted from 2021 to 2023 in a rice–wheat cropping system in the Terai agro-ecological zone of West Bengal, India, using different management practices, i.e., tillage (conventional tillage, CT, and zero tillage, ZT), crop residue (R), and plant growth-promoting bacteria (B). This study was a part of long-term research on resource conservation technology (conservation agriculture, CA), undertaken on a research farm in Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari (Cooch Behar), West Bengal. The project was established in 2006 in acidic alluvial soil. The aim of this study was to evaluate rice–wheat productivity, nutrient uptake, soil quality, and profitability after the 16th and 17th crop cycles under the above-mentioned management practices. The results revealed that the pooled yield of rice grain and straw was significantly higher under the CT + R + B treatment than under the other treatments (ZT, ZT + B, ZT + R, ZT + R + B, CT, CT + B, and CT + R). However, the wheat grain and straw yields were significantly greater under the ZT + R + B treatment than under other treatments. The system’s grain yield and straw yield were significantly higher under the CT + R + B treatment, on par with ZT + R + B, compared to the other treatments. Nutrient uptake (nitrogen, N; phosphorus, P; and potassium, K) was increased by retaining R and inoculating B compared to the sample without R and without B. Soil properties, including organic carbon, available N, available P, and available K, were improved in all the treatments compared to the initial values, but the impact was greater in the treatments with R and B than in those without R and without B. In the 5–10-cm soil layer, the above-mentioned soil properties were also improved over the initial (2006) values by 37, 126, 65 and 60%, respectively, by applying the best treatment (ZT + R + B). In economic terms, the benefit–cost ratio was significantly higher under the CT + R + B treatment for rice crops (2.99) and ZT + R + B for wheat crops (3.37). Therefore, we can conclude that, after 17 years of cultivation, for rice, CT performs better than ZT; meanwhile, for wheat cultivation, ZT produces greater yields than CT in the Terai agro-ecological zone of West Bengal, India. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Tillage Practice in Agriculture)

11 pages, 1845 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Landscape Pattern Identification and Ecological Risk Assessment Employing Land Use Dynamics on the Loess Plateau

by Sen Chang, Zhen-Zhong Dai, Xing Wang, Zhi-Yuan Zhu and Yong-Zhong Feng

Agronomy 2023, 13(9), 2247; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13092247 - 27 Aug 2023

Viewed by 893

Abstract

The Loess Plateau region is characterized by fragmented habitats and ecological vulnerability. Analyzing the changes in land use and ecological risk within the region is of great significance for promoting high-quality development of the Loess Plateau. The study utilized land use data from 2000, 2010, and 2020 in the Loess Plateau region to assess the spatio-temporal variation in land use patterns and landscape ecological risks, aiming to provide valuable references and decision support for ecological risk management and sustainable development in the area. The results indicated that the main land use types in the region are grassland and cropland. From 2000 to 2020, forest, grassland, and water areas increased by 1.39 × 10⁶, 6.25 × 10⁵, and 7.09 × 10⁴ ha, respectively. The impervious area increased rapidly, growing from 9.77 × 10⁴ ha in 2000 to 1.85 × 10⁶ ha in 2020. The cropland decreased by 1.82 × 10⁶ ha from 2000 to 2020, with 4.61 × 10⁵, 4.95 × 10⁶, and 8.91 × 10⁵ ha of cropland converted to forest, grassland, and impervious area, respectively. The fragmentation of the ecological landscape in the region has decreased, and the diversity and richness of landscape types have increased. The fragmentation of cropland, forest, and grassland has decreased, and landscape patches have become more concentrated. High-value areas of landscape ecological risk in the region show a trend of continuous aggregation, altering the dispersion pattern of high-risk areas. Currently, high-risk areas of landscape ecology in the Loess Plateau region are mainly concentrated in northern Shaanxi and some areas along the Yellow River, such as Yulin, Yan’an, Ordos, and others. Currently, the ecological environment remains a bottleneck constraining the high-quality development of the Loess Plateau. It is necessary to persist in coordinated governance and ecological engineering construction, and improving the quality of ecological environment is a prerequisite for consolidating the social foundation and leading the high-quality development of the ecological industry on the Loess Plateau. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Tillage Practice in Agriculture)

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17 pages, 2813 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Carbon Stock Assessment in Natural Forests and Plantations Using Geo-Informatics in Manipur, Northeast India

by Hungyo Wungshap, Ashish Paul, Reetashree Bordoloi, Biswajit Das, Uttam Kumar Sahoo, Shri Kant Tripathi, Jimmy Yebjeny Yumnam, Om Prakash Tripathi, Prakash Kumar Sarangi, Piotr Prus and Florin Imbrea

Agronomy 2023, 13(8), 2023; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13082023 - 30 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1397

Abstract

Uncertainties continue to prevail in the potential of natural forests and plantations in carbon stock assessment. The present study was carried out to assess the carbon stock in natural and plantation forests of Manipur using geo-informatics in Imphal East and West districts. The integrated approach of geospatial technology, along with field inventory based data, was used in spatial modeling of biomass carbon of selected natural and plantation forests. The stand density was similar for both LNG and TRS forests (680 individuals ha⁻¹) and lowest for KHP forest (640 individuals ha⁻¹). Paulownia fortunei (770 individuals ha⁻¹) showed highest density among tree species while Tectona grandis (54.07 m² ha⁻¹) followed by Gmelina arborea (42.18 m² ha⁻¹) had higher basal area compared to other tree species. The soil moisture content (%) in the natural forest ranged from 19.13 ± 0.47 to 26.9 ± 0.26%. The soil moisture content in the plantation forest ranged from 19.16 ± 0.98 to 25.83 ± 0.06%. The bulk density of natural forests ranged from 1.27 g cm⁻³ to 1.37 g cm⁻³ while for plantation forests it ranged from 1.18 g cm⁻³ to 1.34 g cm⁻³. Among the studied sites of natural forest, TRS forest had both the highest AGBC value of 132.74 t ha⁻¹ as well as the BGBC value of 38.49 t ha⁻¹. Similarly, among the plantations, T. grandis plantation showed the highest AGBC (193 t ha⁻¹) and BGBC (55.97 t ha⁻¹). On the other hand, Tharosibi forest and T. grandis plantation had the highest total carbon stock for natural and plantation forest with values of 274.824 t ha⁻¹ and 390.88 t ha⁻¹, respectively. The total above-ground carbon stock estimated for the natural forest of KHP, LNG and TRS were 109.60 t ha⁻¹, 79.49 t ha⁻¹ and 132.74 t ha⁻¹, respectively. On the other hand, the estimated total above-ground carbon stock in plantation of GA, PD, PF and TG were 62.93 t ha⁻¹ 62.81 t ha⁻¹, 45.85 t ha⁻¹ and 193.82 t ha⁻¹. In the present study, the relationship with the biomass was observed to be better in SAVI compared to NDVI and TVI. The linear regression analysis performed to determine the relationship between the estimated and predicted biomass resulted in a correlation coefficient of R² = 0.85 for the present study area, which is an indication of a good relationship between the estimated and predicted biomass. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Tillage Practice in Agriculture)

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12 pages, 2119 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrating Soil pH, Clay, and Neutralizing Value of Lime into a New Lime Requirement Model for Acidic Soils in China

by Dandan Han, Saiqi Zeng, Xi Zhang, Jumei Li and Yibing Ma

Agronomy 2023, 13(7), 1860; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13071860 - 14 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1570

Abstract

Modelling the lime requirement (LR) is a fast and efficient way to determine the amount of lime required to obtain a pH that can overcome the adverse effects caused by soil acidification. This study aimed to model the LR based on the properties of soil and lime. A total of 17 acidic soils and 39 lime samples underwent soil–lime incubation in the laboratory. The predictive equations for the LR (t ha⁻¹) were modelled using ∆pH (the difference between the target pH and initial pH), the neutralizing value (NV, mmol kg⁻¹) of lime, soil pH, soil clay content (%), soil bulk density (BD, g cm⁻³), and the depth of soil (h, cm) as the factors in an exponential equation. The generic predictive equation,

L R = ∆ p H \times e^{- 3.88 - 0.069 \times N V + 0.51 \times p H + 0.025 \times C l a y} \times B D \times h

, was validated as the most reliable model under field conditions. Simplified predictive equations for different soil textures when limed with quicklime and limestone are also provided. Furthermore, the LR proportions provided by hydrated lime, quicklime, limestone, and dolomite in commercially available lime can be expressed as 0.58:0.64:0.97:1.00. This study provides a novel and robust model for predicting the amount of lime product containing components with different neutralizing abilities that are required to neutralize soils with a wide range of properties. It is of great significance to agronomic activities and soil remediation projects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Tillage Practice in Agriculture)

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11 pages, 3529 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mitigation of the Ratio of Soil Dissolved Organic Carbon to Available Phosphorus Effectively Improves Crop Productivity under Mulching Measures on the Loess Plateau

by Jia-Qi Hao, Jia-Jie Song, Guo-Xi Gao, Wen Xu, Jin-Ze Bai, Yong-Zhong Feng and Xing Wang

Agronomy 2023, 13(7), 1810; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13071810 - 07 Jul 2023

Viewed by 832

Abstract

Soil erosion and extensive management, as key factors limiting the sustainability of the agroecosystem in the Loess Plateau, severely hamper the high-quality development of regional agriculture. Soil fertility and element synergy can be enhanced by applying mulching measures properly. However, there is a lack of systematic research into how soil stoichiometric characteristics under mulching affect crop productivity. This study focused on the agroecosystem of the Loess Plateau. Based on the 11-year field positioning experiment, the management measures of straw mulching (SM), plastic mulching (PM) and ridge-film mulching (RM) were selected to investigate the effects of long-term mulching measures on the stoichiometric characteristics of topsoil and the impact of crop productivity under the ecological stoichiometry theory. The findings revealed a significant increase in soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus contents and microbial biomass under mulching. SM and RM significantly decreased the stoichiometric ratio of soil available nutrients, whereas PM and RM had effective alleviating effects on C:N and C:P imbalance. The yield components of long-term SM and RM greatly increased and responded favorably to the synergy of soil carbon and phosphorus. This study provides theoretical guidance and technical support for the assessment of the effective and sustainable use of agricultural resources on the Loess Plateau. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Tillage Practice in Agriculture)

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14 pages, 3509 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Soil Aggregates Stability Response to Summer Fallow Tillage in Rainfed Winter Wheat Fields on the Loess Plateau

by Zewei Qi, Weihua Cui, Zimeng Tian, Jiahua Li, Yuechao Wang, Peng Wu, Zhiqiang Gao and Jianfu Xue

Agronomy 2023, 13(5), 1413; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13051413 - 19 May 2023

Viewed by 984

Abstract

Soil aggregates are one of the most important indicators of soil quality, which can be affected strongly by soil tillage. Little is known about the composition and stability of soil aggregates under summer fallow tillage in rainfed winter wheat fields on the Loess Plateau. Soil aggregates were assessed before sowing and after the harvest of winter wheat under three tillage treatments during summer fallow, including minimum tillage (FMT), subsoiling (FST) and plough tillage (FPT). The results showed that the 0.25–2 mm soil mechanical-stable aggregates (MSA) under the FPT treatment were significantly higher (25.5–42.1%) compared with the FMT treatment in the 0–40 cm soil layer before sowing. The FMT treatment significantly increased the 0.5–2 mm size WSA content (24.6–342.4%) compared with the FPT treatment in the 0–20 cm soil layer before sowing and after harvesting. Compared with the FMT treatment, the FPT treatment significantly increased the stability of the MSA in the 0–20 cm soil layer before sowing and the FST treatment significantly increased the stability of the MSA in the 0–50 cm soil layer after harvest. The FPT treatment significantly decreased the geometric mean diameter (4.2–9.3%) and the stability rate (73.6–252.6%) and increased the destruction rate (1.3–3.5%) and the unstable aggregate index of the WSA (0.8–2.3%) in the 0–20 cm soil layer before sowing, compared with the FMT treatment. In summary, the application of FPT and FST increased the stability of the MSA in the 0–20 cm soil layer; however, FMT improved the stability of the WSA in the 0–40 cm soil layer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Tillage Practice in Agriculture)

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