Producing more grain with lower environmental costs

Chen, Xinping; Cui, Zhenling; Fan, Mingsheng; Vitousek, Peter M.; Zhao, Ming; Ma, Wenqi; Wang, Zhenlin; Zhang, Weijian; Yan, Xiaoyuan; Yang, Jianchang; Deng, Xin; Gao, Qiang; Zhang, Qiang; Guo, Shiwei; Ren, Jianhong; Li, Shiqing; Ye, Youliang; Wang, Zhaohui; Huang, Jikun; Tang, Qiyuan; Sun, Yixiang; Peng, Xianlong; Zhang, Jiwang; He, Mingrong; Zhu, Yunji; Xue, Jiquan; Wang, Guiliang; Wu, Liang; An, Ning; Wu, Liangquan; Ma, Lin; Zhang, Weifeng; Zhang, Fusuo

doi:10.1038/nature13609

Cited by 1,507 publications

(832 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Excessive fertilization in grain crop production has caused low nutrient use efficiency and high environmental costs [14,15]. On the other hand, as economic development has progressed in China, the contribution of agriculture to economy has declined from 40% in 1970 to less than 10% in 2013, along with a tremendous net loss of the productive agricultural labor force [16,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmland Rental and Productivity of Wheat and Maize: An Empirical Study in Gansu, China

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The rapid growth of farmland rental markets in China raises questions about the association of farmland rental and agricultural productivity. Although this issue has been extensively studied, the majority of studies have focused on yields and technical efficiency, with input use and cost efficiency receiving little attention. This study aimed to determine the statistical association of wheat and maize farmers' farmland rental behaviors (renting land, not renting land and renting out land) and input use, and the consequent association of farmers' farmland rental behaviors and cost efficiency. For this purpose, the linear regression model and stochastic frontier model were employed, based on a survey data of 419 wheat and maize farmers in 25 villages in five counties of Gansu Province, China. The study found that farmland rental enhanced productivity and sustainability of agriculture through transferring farmland from households with less productivity to those with high productivity, and it was also helpful to reducing the consumption of fertilizers and chemicals in agricultural production. The results suggest that replacing labor with machines is an important way to reduce production costs, and households specializing in agricultural production use more rational amounts of fertilizers and chemicals than those with low productivity. Thus, the machinery purchase policy in China should continue to give great benefit to farmers. In addition, the machinery purchase subsidization policy has achieved satisfactory results in China, and it could be a good reference for other developing countries. However, some efficiency loss was found in households that rented out their land, and policy makers need to pay some attention to these households.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmland Rental and Productivity of Wheat and Maize: An Empirical Study in Gansu, China

et al. 2017

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“…According to FAOSTAT (2010), approximately 600 million people in the Asia-Pacific region are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. With the region's population projected to increase by another billion by the mid-century, new approaches to increase food production are needed (Chen et al, 2014). With a limited agricultural land area, the intensive agricultural regions of China are facing serious environmental problems due to large inputs of chemical fertilizer and low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) (Ju et al, 2009;Makino, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With a limited agricultural land area, the intensive agricultural regions of China are facing serious environmental problems due to large inputs of chemical fertilizer and low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) (Ju et al, 2009;Makino, 2011). Thus, integrated soil-crop system management (ISSM), which redesigns the whole production system based on the local environment and draws on appropriate fertilizer compounds and application ratios, crop densities and advanced water management regimes, has been advocated and developed to simultaneously increase crop productivity and NUE with low carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) equivalent emissions per unit product in China (Chen et al, 2014). The key points of the ISSM are to integrate soil and nutrient manPublished by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity in rice agriculture driven by high yields and nitrogen use efficiency

Zhang

Liu

et al. 2016

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Our understanding of how global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) is affected by management practices aimed at food security with respect to rice agriculture remains limited. In the present study, a field experiment was conducted in China to evaluate the effects of integrated soil-crop system management (ISSM) on GWP and GHGI after accounting for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) equivalent emissions from all sources, including methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions, agrochemical inputs and farm operations and sinks (i.e., soil organic carbon sequestration). The ISSM mainly consisted of different nitrogen (N) fertilization rates and split, manure, Zn and Na 2 SiO 3 fertilization and planting density for the improvement of rice yield and agronomic nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Four ISSM scenarios consisting of different chemical N rates relative to the local farmers' practice (FP) rate were carried out, namely, ISSM-N1 (25 % reduction), ISSM-N2 (10 % reduction), ISSM-N3 (FP rate) and ISSM-N4 (25 % increase). The results showed that compared with the FP, the four ISSM scenarios significantly increased the rice yields by 10, 16, 28 and 41 % and the agronomic NUE by 75, 67, 35 and 40 %, respectively. In addition, compared with the FP, the ISSM-N1 and ISSM-N2 scenarios significantly reduced the GHGI by 14 and 18 %, respectively, despite similar GWPs. The ISSM-N3 and ISSM-N4 scenarios remarkably increased the GWP and GHGI by an average of 69 and 39 %, respectively. In conclusion, the ISSM strategies are promising for both food security and environmental protection, and the ISSM scenario of ISSM-N2 is the optimal strategy to realize high yields and high NUE together with low environmental impacts for this agricultural rice field.

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“…With the high amounts of N-fertilizer being used, crop yields are declining in some areas, where application is exceeding the optimum required for local field crops (Shen et al, 2003;Miller and Smith, 2008;Xu et al, 2012). The extremely low NUE results in waste of resources and environmental contamination, and also presents serious hazards for human health Chen et al, 2014). Consequently, exploiting the maximum potential for improving NUE in crop plants will have practical significance for agriculture production and the environment Schroeder et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

Nitrogen Use Efficiency Is Mediated by Vacuolar Nitrate Sequestration Capacity in Roots of Brassica napus

et al. 2016

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Enhancing nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in crop plants is an important breeding target to reduce excessive use of chemical fertilizers, with substantial benefits to farmers and the environment. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), allocation of more NO 3 2 to shoots was associated with higher NUE; however, the commonality of this process across plant species have not been sufficiently studied. Two Brassica napus genotypes were identified with high and low NUE. We found that activities of V-ATPase and V-PPase, the two tonoplast proton-pumps, were significantly lower in roots of the high-NUE genotype (Xiangyou15) ] S:R ratios were significantly higher in Xiangyou15. BnNRT1.5 expression was higher in roots of Xiangyou15 compared with 814, while BnNRT1.8 expression was lower. In both B. napus treated with proton pump inhibitors or Arabidopsis mutants impaired in proton pump activity, vacuolar sequestration capacity (VSC) of NO 3 2 in roots substantially decreased. Expression of NRT1.5 was up-regulated, but NRT1.8 was down-regulated, driving greater NO 3 2 long-distance transport from roots to shoots. NUE in Arabidopsis mutants impaired in proton pumps was also significantly higher than in the wild type col-0. Taken together, these data suggest that decrease in VSC of NO 3 2 in roots will enhance transport to shoot and essentially contribute to higher NUE by promoting NO 3 2 allocation to aerial parts, likely through coordinated regulation of NRT1.5 and NRT1.8.

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Producing more grain with lower environmental costs

Cited by 1,507 publications

References 26 publications

Farmland Rental and Productivity of Wheat and Maize: An Empirical Study in Gansu, China

Farmland Rental and Productivity of Wheat and Maize: An Empirical Study in Gansu, China

Global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity in rice agriculture driven by high yields and nitrogen use efficiency

Nitrogen Use Efficiency Is Mediated by Vacuolar Nitrate Sequestration Capacity in Roots of Brassica napus

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