Soil fertility, crop nutrition, and cropping systems: Research for Mediterranean dryland agriculture

Abstract

The mission of the Consortium on Global International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is to reduce poverty and enhance food, water, nutritional security, and environmental health in the face of global challenges, including climate change. It operates worldwide through a network of 15 international research centers. One of these institutions, The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) has focused on dryland agriculture in the Mediterranean region, specifically in West Asia-North Africa (WANA). Soil fertility, agronomy, and crop nutrition were key areas of its research program. This mini review highlights the research achievements at ICARDA with respect to nitrogen, phosphorus, micronutrients, nutrient dynamics, fertilizer use, soil testing, sustainable cropping and/or crop rotations, and conservation tillage. Despite the destruction of the Center's headquarters in the ongoing civil war and its dispersion in the region, the legacy of ICARDA will survive through documentation of its research in the international literature.

Increasing soil organic carbon sequestration and yield stability by no‐tillage and straw‐returning in wheat–maize rotation

“…Even small changes in the SOC caused by anthropogenic disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems can profoundly affect the atmospheric C dioxide (CO 2 ) and thus influence climatic changes (Sayer et al., 2011). In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to SOC sequestration by optimizing appropriate crop rotation, integrated soil fertility management, and conservation tillage, including crop residue management, in agricultural ecosystems (Berhane et al., 2020; Gonçalves et al., 2019; Ryan, 2020; W. Sun et al., 2020; Xia et al., 2018). Therefore, understanding the SOC dynamics and the role that the soil plays in sequestering more atmospheric CO 2 is of incredible concern due to their great potential for both climate change mitigation and agricultural sustainability (Feng et al., 2020; Y. Zhao, Wang, et al., 2018).…”

Increasing soil organic carbon sequestration and yield stability simultaneously through combined no-tillage and straw return in wheat-maize rotation

“…TheSOCdepletion is also acknowledged as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, resulting further in losses of soil fertility and ecosystem stability (Amundson et al, 2015;Rüegget al, 2019).Even small changes inthe SOC caused by anthropogenic disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems can profoundly affect the atmospheric C dioxide(CO 2 )and thus get feedback to climate changes (Sayer et al, 2011). In recent years, increasingattentionshave been paid to SOC sequestration by optimizing appropriate crop rotation, integrated soil fertility management, and conservation tillage including crop residue management in agricultural ecosystems (Xia et al, 2018;Gonçalves et al, 2019;Berhane et al, 2020;Ryan et al, 2020;Sun et al, 2020).Therefore, understanding the SOC dynamics and the role that the soil plays in sequestering more atmospheric CO 2 into soils are of incredible concern due to their great potential for both climate change mitigation and agricultural sustainability (Zhao et al, 2018a;Feng et al, 2020).…”

Introduction: Water, soil, crops, and people in a changing climate: the agronomic legacy of Dr. B.A. Stewart

“…Schillinger (2020) summarized research in the dryland farming region of the U.S. Pacific Northwest, where winter canola, pea, and triticale ( X Triticosecale Wittmack ) have shown promise as alternatives to winter wheat. Li, Li, Javaid, Ashraf, and Zhang (2020) discussed the advantages of ridge‐furrow plastic‐film mulching compared to conventional‐tillage for dryland farmers in the northern Loess Plateau region of China, while Ryan (2020) summarized dryland research efforts at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas in Aleppo, Syria. Lal (2020), the World Food Prize recipient in 2020, discussed the importance of soil organic matter on water storage capacity, and the need for reclaiming degraded/depleted soils to improve cropping system resilience.…”