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Agronomy
Special Issues
Alley Cropping—Agroforestry Systems
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Alley Cropping—Agroforestry Systems

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Innovative Cropping Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2021) | Viewed by 16163

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rüdiger Graß

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Section Grassland Science and Renewable Plant Resources, Faculty of Organic Agricultiral Sciences, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
Interests: innovative and sustainable cropping systems; bioenergy; ecosystem services; climate change
Dr. Ralf Bloch

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Area 2 "Land Use and Governance" / Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development (HNEE), Faculty of Landscape Management and Nature Conservation, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Germany
Interests: agroecology and sustainable cropping systems; on-farm research; ecosystem services; climate change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agroforestry systems are often described as sustainable practices to mitigate and adapt to climate change, avoid nutrient losses, and to preserve and enhance biodiversity and soil functions—in short, to increase ecosystem services. Especially in terms of climate change, the establishment of agroforestry systems has been proposed to enhance microclimate with the effect of an optimized water supply.

Modern agroforestry systems are mostly designed as alley cropping systems to produce woody biomass (for energetic utilization or quality wood) by integrating parallel strips of trees into conventional agricultural sites (arable land and grassland) using conventional machinery. In recent years, many different alley cropping systems have been developed worldwide, and many research studies have been conducted.

This Special Issue intends to provide insight into these research activities and to show the diversity of alley cropping systems and their ecosystem functions. Therefore, research articles, reviews, short notes, and opinion articles are welcome.

Dr. Rüdiger Graß
Dr. Ralf Bloch
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • agroforestry systems
  • alley cropping
  • utilization of woody biomass
  • ecosystem services
  • agroecology
  • sustainability
  • climate change
  • competition effects
  • synergy effects
  • yield
  • quality
  • agricultural technology: management aspects

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1511 KiB  
Article
Net Energy Balance and Fuel Quality of an Alley Cropping System Combining Grassland and Willow: Results of the 2nd Rotation
by Ilze Dzene, Frank Hensgen, Rüdiger Graß and Michael Wachendorf
Agronomy 2021, 11(7), 1272; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11071272 - 22 Jun 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1806
Abstract
With the central aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, agroforestry systems have become popular because they can provide biomass for bioenergy conversion and thus help replace fossil energy. This article compares the net energy balances of three biomass conversion techniques for an agroforestry [...] Read more.
With the central aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, agroforestry systems have become popular because they can provide biomass for bioenergy conversion and thus help replace fossil energy. This article compares the net energy balances of three biomass conversion techniques for an agroforestry system consisting of willows and two types of grassland biomass as well as separate stands of grassland and willow. The period of investigation was the second willow rotation (4–6 years after establishment). The biomass conversion techniques included combustion of hay (CH), integrated generation of solid fuel and biogas from biomass (IFBB), and anaerobic whole crop digestion (WCD). Compared to the first rotation (years 1–3), the net energy yield of the willow stands significantly increased. Nevertheless, the separate stand of willow had higher net energy yield than the agroforestry system. The IFBB technique led to an improvement in solid fuel quality through demineralization. CH and IFBB provided higher net energy yields than WCD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alley Cropping—Agroforestry Systems)
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17 pages, 1673 KiB  
Article
Management to Promote Flowering Understoreys Benefits Natural Enemy Diversity, Aphid Suppression and Income in an Agroforestry System
by Tom Staton, Richard Walters, Jo Smith, Tom Breeze and Robbie Girling
Agronomy 2021, 11(4), 651; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11040651 - 29 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3833
Abstract
Agroforestry systems, where productive trees are integrated into agricultural land, can deliver benefits to biodiversity, natural pest control, and pollination, but the effects are highly variable. Recent advances in our understanding of flower strips in agricultural systems suggest that the management of the [...] Read more.
Agroforestry systems, where productive trees are integrated into agricultural land, can deliver benefits to biodiversity, natural pest control, and pollination, but the effects are highly variable. Recent advances in our understanding of flower strips in agricultural systems suggest that the management of the tree row understorey could be an important contributor to this variation. Here, we compare two cutting regimes for an understorey, originally seeded with the same flower mix, in the tree rows of an apple-arable agroforestry system: (i) uncut vegetation to promote a flowering understorey, and (ii) regularly mown vegetation. We recorded the effects of management on invertebrate pests, natural enemies, and pollinators, in both the apple and arable components. Apple trees above flowering understoreys supported significantly: (i) more natural enemies early in the season, (ii) fewer aphid colonies, (iii) fewer aphid-damaged fruits, and (iv) higher pollinator visitation, compared with those above mown understoreys. In the arable crop alleys, both the taxonomic richness and Shannon diversity of ground-based natural enemies were significantly higher adjacent to flowering understoreys, compared with those adjacent to mown understoreys, early in the season. Financial modelling based on aphid damage to apples, mowing costs, and income from Countryside Stewardship grants, indicated that flowering understoreys increased farm income by GBP 231.02 per ha of agroforestry compared with mown understoreys. Our results provide the first empirical evidence that management to promote flowering understoreys in agroforestry systems can be a win-win option to improve invertebrate diversity, associated ecosystem services, and farm income. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alley Cropping—Agroforestry Systems)
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13 pages, 1343 KiB  
Article
Biomass Performance and Competition Effects in an Established Temperate Agroforestry System of Willow and Grassland—Results of the 2nd Rotation
by Rüdiger Graß, Sarah Malec and Michael Wachendorf
Agronomy 2020, 10(11), 1819; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10111819 - 19 Nov 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4207
Abstract
Agroforestry systems (AFSs) are promoted as environmentally friendly and climate-change-resilient cultivation systems with the potential of increasing ecosystem services. Especially under temperate climatic conditions, the implementation in agricultural practice is low so far, inter alia due to the lack of knowledge regarding longer-term [...] Read more.
Agroforestry systems (AFSs) are promoted as environmentally friendly and climate-change-resilient cultivation systems with the potential of increasing ecosystem services. Especially under temperate climatic conditions, the implementation in agricultural practice is low so far, inter alia due to the lack of knowledge regarding longer-term effects of such systems. This study investigated biomass yields and crop development during the second rotation of an alley cropping system with willows (clone “Tordis” ((Salix schwerinii x S. viminalis) x S. vim.)) and grassland that was established in March 2011, as reported in a former study of the authors. Two grassland swards (white clover grass (Lolium perenne L. and Trifolium repens L.) (CG) and a diversity mixture with 32 plant species (DIV)) were proven in an intensive (3/4 cuts per year) and extensive management system (two cuts per year). Total yield (sum of three years) of AFS increased substantially in the second rotation (year four to six after establishment of the AFS). This was particularly due to a fivefold increase in woody biomass. At the same time, yields of grassland biomass decreased slightly. Biomass of CG outperformed DIV, especially in the intensive managed systems with a dry matter (DM) yield of 18 t ha−1, compared to 12.6 t ha−1. However, AFS grassland yields were always lower than yields of reference areas with grassland in pure stand. Nevertheless, lower yields are probably caused by competition effects between woody crops and grassland. Grassland yields along transects across the grassland alleyways showed a strong decrease in the border areas in all treatments. Higher grassland yields in the alley center did not compensate yield reductions in border areas. Furthermore, the botanical composition of grassland was modified in border areas with reduced legume DM contribution and increases of both grasses and forbs. Thus, the width of grassland alleys with 9 m caused strong competition effects by the willows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alley Cropping—Agroforestry Systems)
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Review

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25 pages, 1177 KiB  
Review
Modelling Agroforestry’s Contributions to People—A Review of Available Models
by Philipp Kraft, Ehsan Eyshi Rezaei, Lutz Breuer, Frank Ewert, André Große-Stoltenberg, Till Kleinebecker, Diana-Maria Seserman and Claas Nendel
Agronomy 2021, 11(11), 2106; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11112106 - 20 Oct 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5013
Abstract
Climate change, increasing environmental pollution, continuous loss of biodiversity, and a growing human population with increasing food demand, threaten the functioning of agro-ecosystems and their contribution to people and society. Agroforestry systems promise a number of benefits to enhance nature’s contributions to people. [...] Read more.
Climate change, increasing environmental pollution, continuous loss of biodiversity, and a growing human population with increasing food demand, threaten the functioning of agro-ecosystems and their contribution to people and society. Agroforestry systems promise a number of benefits to enhance nature’s contributions to people. There are a wide range of agroforestry systems implemented representing different levels of establishment across the globe. This range and the long time periods for the establishment of these systems make empirical assessments of impacts on ecosystem functions difficult. In this study we investigate how simulation models can help to assess and predict the role of agroforestry in nature’s contributions. The review of existing models to simulate agroforestry systems reveals that most models predict mainly biomass production and yield. Regulating ecosystem services are mostly considered as a means for the assessment of yield only. Generic agroecosystem models with agroforestry extensions provide a broader scope, but the interaction between trees and crops is often addressed in a simplistic way. The application of existing models for agroforestry systems is particularly hindered by issues related to code structure, licences or availability. Therefore, we call for a community effort to connect existing agroforestry models with ecosystem effect models towards an open-source, multi-effect agroforestry modelling framework. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alley Cropping—Agroforestry Systems)
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