Integrated crop-livestock system with system fertilization approach improves food production and resource-use efficiency in agricultural lands

Abstract

Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) can be an alternative to increase the productivity of agroecosystems by enhancing nutrient cycling via grazing animals. Despite the holistic approach that bears the designing of ICLS, fertilization practices are proceeded in a conventional crop basis, disregarding nutrient fluxes at the appropriate spatial and temporal dynamics. We argue that fertilization practices in ICLS must follow the same integrated approach. To test this, we compared a conventional crop fertilization strategy versus a system fertilization approach applied to two production systems being a conventional cropping system and ICLS. The conventional cropping system consisted of a soybean crop succeeded by a non-grazed Italian ryegrass cover crop. The ICLS model consisted of a soybean-Italian ryegrass rotation grazed by sheep. In the conventional crop fertilization strategy phosphorus and potassium were applied at soybean sowing and nitrogen at the Italian ryegrass establishment. The system fertilization consisted of the application of all nutrients during the Italian ryegrass establishment. Accordingly, treatments were fertilization strategies in a factorial framework with production systems randomly distributed in a complete block design with four replicates. Results indicated for the first time greater daily herbage accumulation rate (24%; P < 0.01) and total herbage production (18%; P < 0.05) in the system fertilization compared with conventional crop fertilization. Consequently, system fertilization allowed for greater stocking rates in the pasture phase (17%; P < 0.05). The ICLS presented greater equivalent soybean yield (P < 0.001), energy production (P < 0.01), and system productivity (P < 0.05) compared with the cropping system, regardless of fertilization strategies. Soybean yield was not affected by fertilization strategies or grazing. In conclusion, the adoption of system fertilization strategy and crop-livestock integration enhance the production without jeopardizing soybean grain yields, so that land use is optimized by a greater energy production per unit of nutrient applied.

Design of Ideological and Political Multimedia Network Teaching Resources Integration System Based on Wireless Network

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Land-Use Intensification Trends in the Rio De La Plata Region of South America: Toward Specialization or Recoupling Crop and Livestock Production

“…As the role of livestock as the nutrient recycling component of ICLS became clear, the Eldorado do Sul experiment was redesigned in 2017 to answer an emerging question [76] , namely "Are system resource use efficiency and yields increased by changing the fertilization logic from a per crop approach (i.e., focused on fertilizing the crop, so applied previously to crop seeding) to a system approach (i.e., focused on the replenishment of soil nutrient pools that were depleted with grain harvest/export, so applied previous to pasture sowing) that aims to increase nutrient recycling via grazing animals"? The authors compared a soybean-cover crop rotation with an integrated soybean-sheep system where the same cover crops were grazed in winter, and the two previously described fertilization strategies.…”

“…Also, livestock integration increased herbage yields in comparison to the specialized cropping system (8.7 vs. 7.3 t•ha −1 DM on average), so that the greatest forage production was achieved when both strategies were combined (9.4 t•ha −1 DM). Pasture-based sheep production in the winter increased overall food production through increased resource use efficiency, without expanding agricultural frontiers or increasing the use of external inputs [76] .…”

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