Potential legume alternatives to fallow and wheat monoculture for Mediterranean environments

Christiansen, Scott; Ryan, John; Singh, Murari; Ateş, Serkan; Bahhady, F.; Mohamed, Khalil; Youssef, Omran; Loss, S. P.

doi:10.1071/cp14063

Cited by 36 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The yield benefits of crop rotation, especially of cereals with legumes, have been accepted in practice by farmers in many dryland systems for a very long time, and recently reaffirmed from long-term experiments in northern Syria (Christiansen et al 2015) and Western Australia (French et al 2015). However, published reports do not always support the claim that soil and yield improvements come from the retention of crop residues (Scott et al 2010).…”

Section: Relative Contributions-management and Breedingmentioning

confidence: 72%

Addressing the yield gap in rainfed crops: a review

Anderson

Johansen

Siddique

2016

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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The problems and challenges of rapidly increasing world population, global climate change, shortages of water suitable for irrigation and degradation of agricultural land are increasing the demand to improve grain production from rainfed arable lands. Specific challenges include estimating the size and thus the value of the yield gap, identifying the factors limiting current average production and designing profitable remedial strategies for a range of agro-ecological regions. This review of the rainfall-limited potential yields and the gap between actual or average yields of cereal and legume crops and the rainfall-limited potential indicates that there is still substantial room to increase the average yield of crops in rainfed systems in both developed and developing regions. The review has indicated that (1) the size of the gap between average and potential yields varies according to the agro-ecological zone and the available technologies from about 0.5 to over 5 t/ha, leaving considerable scope for future yield improvement; (2) there is relatively less information applicable at the farm or field scale that assesses the spatial and temporal variability of the yield gap, the reasons for the gap and the possible methods to close the gap; (3) there is also limited information on the feasibility and profitability of applying various approaches to close the gap, including tactical and strategic management practices and plant breeding; (4) the evidence of the impact of the components of conservation agriculture on crop yields in a wide range of agro-ecological regions supports the adoption of zero tillage and crop rotation but is less clear in support of residue retention; (5) objective identification and testing of factors that limit production can lead to a rational sequence of amelioration that is specific to each agro-ecological or field situation and can close the yield gap in winter-dominant rainfall environments; and (6) farmerparticipatory varietal selection, including breeding for specific adaptation can make a substantial contribution to closing the gap in a range of environments. A common observation from the reports reviewed here is that sustainable yield improvement will need to employ a range of methods that are appropriate to specific agro-ecological conditions-previous approaches based on single inputs, practices or genotypes can only be partial solutions.

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Section: Relative Contributions-management and Breedingmentioning

confidence: 72%

Addressing the yield gap in rainfed crops: a review

Anderson

Johansen

Siddique

2016

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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“…The increased available N in the pulse systems reflects the process by which the plants fix atmospheric N 2 through symbiosis with soil Rhizobium and the decomposition of the N-rich crop residues, a biological process that is environmentally friendly 22,43 . By contrast, the increased soil N with summerfallow systems is mainly through 'mining' the soil and accelerating the depletion of the soil organic matter 23 , which is a soil-degrading and environmentally detrimental approach 44 . One of the major goals of farming is to increase the crop yield per unit of input 45,46 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The inclusion of pulse crops in farming systems can enhance soil available N 21 due to the ability of pulse plants to fix atmospheric N 2 through symbiosis with Rhizobium 22 . In many areas of Mediterranean countries, the use of pulses to enhance soil N has been practiced for decades, and the advantages have been widely demonstrated 23,24 . However, it is not known whether diversifying summerfallow systems with pulses is effective and productive in the northern latitude areas where water is scarce and the growing season is short (95 to 125 days) 25 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversifying crop rotations with pulses enhances system productivity

Gan¹,

Hamel²,

Cutforth³

et al. 2016

Crops & Soils

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Agriculture in rainfed dry areas is often challenged by inadequate water and nutrient supplies. Summerfallowing has been used to conserve rainwater and promote the release of nitrogen via the N mineralization of soil organic matter. However, summerfallowing leaves land without any crops planted for one entire growing season, creating lost production opportunity. Additionally, summerfallowing has serious environmental consequences. It is unknown whether alternative systems can be developed to retain the beneficial features of summerfallowing with little or no environmental impact. Here, we show that diversifying cropping systems with pulse crops can enhance soil water conservation, improve soil N availability, and increase system productivity. A 3-yr cropping sequence study, repeated for five cycles in Saskatchewan from 2005 to 2011, shows that both pulse-and summerfallow-based systems enhances soil N availability, but the pulse system employs biological fixation of atmospheric N 2 , whereas the summerfallow-system relies on 'mining' soil N with depleting soil organic matter. In a 3-yr cropping cycle, the pulse system increased total grain production by 35.5%, improved protein yield by 50.9%, and enhanced fertilizer-N use efficiency by 33.0% over the summerfallow system. Diversifying cropping systems with pulses can serve as an effective alternative to summerfallowing in rainfed dry areas.

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“…A study of ten growing seasons in north-eastern Syria showed that the inclusion of pulses either as grain crops or hay in the rotation boosted profits considerably (Christiansen et al 2015). Replacing summerfallow with common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) for hay production increased the average gross margin by US$126 ha −1 year −1 , and growing vetch for hay in rotation with wheat produced greater profit than continuous wheat, by $254 ha −1 year −1 .…”

Section: Case Study-reducing Summerfallow Frequencies Lowers the Carbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farming tactics to reduce the carbon footprint of crop cultivation in semiarid areas. A review

Liu

Cutforth

Chai

et al. 2016

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

142

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The human population on the planet is estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050; this requires significant increase of food production to meet the demands. Intensified farming systems have been identified as a viable means to increase grain production. However, farming intensification requires more inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, and fuels; all these emit greenhouse gases and have environmental consequences. An overwhelming question is: can farming practices be improved which enables yield increase with no cost to the environment? Here, we present seven key farming tactics that are proven to be effective in increasing grain production while lowering carbon footprint: (1) using diversified cropping systems can reduce the system's carbon footprint by 32 to 315 % compared with conventional monoculture systems; (2) improving N fertilizer use efficiency can lower the carbon footprints of field crops as N fertilizer applied to these crops contributed 36 to 52 % of the total emissions; (3) adopting intensified rotation with reduced summerfallow can lower the carbon footprint by as much as 150 %, compared with a system that has high frequency of summerfallow; (4) enhancing soil carbon sequestration can reduce carbon footprint, as the emissions from crop inputs can be partly offset by carbon conversion from atmospheric CO 2 into plant biomass and ultimately sequestered into the soil; (5) using reduced tillage in combination with crop residue retention can increase soil organic carbon and reduce carbon footprints; (6) integrating key cropping practices can increase crop yield by 15 to 59 %, reduce emissions by 25 to 50 %, and lower the carbon footprint of cereal crops by 25 to 34 %; and (7) including N 2fixing pulses in rotations can reduce the use of inorganic fertilizer, and lower carbon footprints. With the adoption of these improved farming tactics, one can optimize the system performance while reducing the carbon footprint of crop cultivation.

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Potential legume alternatives to fallow and wheat monoculture for Mediterranean environments

Cited by 36 publications

References 38 publications

Addressing the yield gap in rainfed crops: a review

Addressing the yield gap in rainfed crops: a review

Diversifying crop rotations with pulses enhances system productivity

Farming tactics to reduce the carbon footprint of crop cultivation in semiarid areas. A review

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