Long‐Term Cereal‐Based Rotation Trials in the Mediterranean Region: Implications for Cropping Sustainability

Abstract

8. Lessons Learned 309 9. Future Strategies 311 Acknowledgments 312 References 312With increasing global populations particularly in developing countries, and a limited or even shrinking supply of arable land, the challenge to agriculture is to meet the world's food and fiber needs without reducing the capacity of the resource base (soil and water) to enable guaranteed production for posterity and also to accommodate society's environmental and energy concerns. The issue of production sustainability is all the more acute in semi-arid and arid regions of the world where drought and related biophysical factors create a fragile and uncertain environment for production. In the West, mainly in temperate regions, long-term agronomic trials have been invaluable in identifying new technologies and crop management systems that have contributed to enhanced crop output that is sustainable from the biological, environmental, and economical standpoints. Many of these trials continue to guide cropping trends into the foreseeable future. The Mediterranean region has served climatic constraints to its agriculture and despite being cultivated for millennia, it is largely food deficient. Yet long-term cropping experiments that could direct agricultural production in a sustainable manner are relatively rare, and even most of such trials are of recent vintage. This review offers a background perspective on factors related to crop, production, and subsequently examines the various multiyear cropping system/ tillage trials in countries of North Africa and West Asia that border the Mediterranean. Special emphasis is given to the wide range of trials conducted in Syria by the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas across a range of rainfall zones that are typical of the region as a whole. The goal of many trials was to identify cropping systems as a substitute for fallow and continuous cereal cropping with implications for improved water-use efficiency (WUE), crop quality, soil quality, and fertilizer use. Lessons learned from the trials are highlighted as well as future directions for cropping systems research.

Effects of Zero Tillage and Residue Retention on Soil Quality in the Mediterranean Region of Northern Syria

“…Soil bulk density varied amongsites, with the top 50 cm significantly lower in C16 than in B4 and B7 (LSD site = 0.1 g/cm 3 ; Figure 2). …”

“…To mitigate the negative impact of such intensification, various management practices have been developed, such as rotations as an alternative to mono-cropping [3], reduced tillage or no/zero tillage (NT, ZT) instead of conventional tillage (CT) [4] [5], the production and use of compost from manure, straw and other organic residues [6] or development of fertilizer best management practices [7]. In a major shift from conventional production systems, conservation agriculture (CA) systems, embracing ZT for minimal soil disturbance, surface residue retention and crop rotation, have been adopted extensively in Australia, Canada, the USA and Latin America [8] [9].…”

Sustainable development of smallholder crop-livestock farming in developing countries

“…In dry areas where livestock are an integral part of the production system, forage legumes have increased crop yield and animal production [9] [2] [8] [10]. Legumes can be inserted into crop rotations in various ways depending on the production system, sitespecific needs, farmer capabilities, and the amount of precipitation received.…”

Estudio de las Prácticas Culturales, Porosidad del Suelo y Gestión Hídrica en el Combate contra la Desertificación

“…Solo así se podrán identificar los sistemas de producción y prácticas culturales, substitutos de aquellos que tradicionalmente son practicados, con todas sus consecuencias (Ryan et al, 2008).…”