Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Yang, Xiaolin
• Xiong, Jinran
• Du, Taisheng
• Ju, Xiaotang
• Gan, Yantai
• Li, Sien
• Xia, Longlong
• Shen, Yanjun
• Pacenka, Steven
• Steenhuis, Tammo S
• Siddique, Kadambot H M
• Kang, Shaozhong
• Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus

Titel

Diversifying crop rotation increases food production, reduces net greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil health

Ist Teil von

• Nature communications, 2024-01, Vol.15 (1), p.198-198, Article 198

Ort / Verlag

England: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Global food production faces challenges in balancing the need for increased yields with environmental sustainability. This study presents a six-year field experiment in the North China Plain, demonstrating the benefits of diversifying traditional cereal monoculture (wheat-maize) with cash crops (sweet potato) and legumes (peanut and soybean). The diversified rotations increase equivalent yield by up to 38%, reduce N O emissions by 39%, and improve the system's greenhouse gas balance by 88%. Furthermore, including legumes in crop rotations stimulates soil microbial activities, increases soil organic carbon stocks by 8%, and enhances soil health (indexed with the selected soil physiochemical and biological properties) by 45%. The large-scale adoption of diversified cropping systems in the North China Plain could increase cereal production by 32% when wheat-maize follows alternative crops in rotation and farmer income by 20% while benefiting the environment. This study provides an example of sustainable food production practices, emphasizing the significance of crop diversification for long-term agricultural resilience and soil health.