Increasing the agricultural, environmental and economic benefits of farming based on suitable crop rotations and optimum fertilizer applications

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Wang, S., Yang, L., Su, M., Ma, X., Sun, Y., Yang, M., Zhao, P., Shen, J., Zhang, F., Goulding, K. W. T., Shi, X. and Liu, X. 2019. Increasing the agricultural, environmental and economic benefits of farming based on suitable crop rotations and optimum fertilizer applications. Field Crops Research. 240, pp. 78-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2019.06.010

AuthorsWang, S., Yang, L., Su, M., Ma, X., Sun, Y., Yang, M., Zhao, P., Shen, J., Zhang, F., Goulding, K. W. T., Shi, X. and Liu, X.
Abstract

A suitable crop rotation with optimum fertilizer application can balance the need for high crop yields with minimal environmental risk. This has not yet been achieved in China, and the Chinese Government now requires rotations that include a fallow period with the aim of improving soil quality. As a step towards achieving these aims, a 5-year field experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of different rates of nitrogen (N) fertilizer in three typical and acceptable crop rotations on grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), N balance and economic benefit at Jiangjin, Chongqing, China. The rotations were rice-flooded fallow (RF), rice-wheat (RW) and maize-wheat (MW). Three fertilizer treatments were tested over five years. The RW rotation with reduced fertilizer application had the highest grain yield and generated the highest economic benefit. The MW rotation was not suitable for the region that we studied because high precipitation can cause serious disease problems for the wheat. The RF rotation with reduced fertilizer application proved to be the best system for ensuring food security, increasing economic benefit and reducing environmental risk.

KeywordsRotation system; Nutrients management; Agricultural benefit; Environmental benefit; Economic benefit
Year of Publication2019
JournalField Crops Research
Journal citation240, pp. 78-85
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2019.06.010
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2019.06.010
Open accessPublished as non-open access
FunderBBSRC Newton funding
Funder project or codeUK - China Virtual Joint Centre for Improved Nitrogen Agronomy (CINAG)
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Print17 Jun 2019
Publication process dates
Accepted12 Jun 2019
Copyright licensePublisher copyright
PublisherElsevier Science Bv
ISSN0378-4290

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