How to improve the production of crops ｜ Green Society International News

China ’s biological diversity protection and Green Development Foundation (referred to as the China Green Fair, Green Association) International Department learned from the internationally renowned journal: ecological enhancement (through ecological practice or nitrogen fertilizer) helps increase production. The International Department of the Green Club now compiles this article for reference and understanding of interesting readers.

Caption: In Ethiopia, a young farmer is fertilizing the seedlings. Picture source: EDWIN Remsberg/VWPICS/Universal Images Group Via Getty Images

Agriculture is difficult to balance between grain production and environmental impact. For example, fertilizer helps to obtain good crop yield, but excessive use will generate greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

Some of these influences also threatened future agricultural production. For example, greenhouse gas emissions can cause climate change and increase the possibility of extreme weather events.

Therefore, in order to maintain agriculture, it is necessary to minimize the use of fertilizer and other investment, and support crop growth in other ways. One way is to increase the ecological function in the farm. This means strengthening the relationship between different farms, including crops, livestock, microorganisms, and wild animals and plants. The use of these relationships to support crop yield is called "ecological enhancement".

Previous research showed that ecological enhancement was effective. However, research is usually completed only in just a few years, and the impact of agricultural practice often needs to be manifested longer. Weather changes between different years will cover up the impact in the short term, and some ecological processes will take several years to stabilize.

In a recent study, my colleagues and I discussed whether long -term research also supported ecological enhancement. To answer this question, we conducted 30 long -term experiments in Europe and Africa. We use these experiments to study whether ecological enhancement can reduce the demand for two types of investment: nitrogen fertilizer and farming.

We found that ecological enhancement can partially replace fertilizer to support crop yield, because ecological enhancement and chemical fertilizer can increase soil nutrients. Therefore, farmers can use ecological strengthening to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers while maintaining the same output. Farmers who have used a small amount of fertilizer can increase yield.

Whether farmers adopt farming or exempt agriculture, ecological enhancement can also increase production. This is because our tested farming and ecological practice have different functions, and promote crop yield in different ways.

In general, ecological enhancement can help the use of high -chemical fertilizers without reducing production to help balance grain production and environmental impact. It can also supplement low investment to increase the output of poverty -stricken and remote communities that are expensive or difficult to obtain chemical fertilizers.

What did we experiment?

We chose experiments that have been running for 10 years or longer. We include an exception to incorporate the experiments of two nine years ago into the dataset to increase the representativeness of small farmers' cultivation methods.

The 30 experiments in our studies test different practices in different climate, soil types and farming systems. We look for a common trend in the experiment. In particular, we want to know how ecological practice and investment are interacted. Is it better to combine a variety of ecological practice and investment, or is it most effective alone?

In our data concentration, there are three types of ecological practice and two types of inputs. The test frequency is enough to include our analysis.

Ecological practice includes:

l Crops diversified -rotation crops or different crops that are closer to each other;

l includes fertilizer or plants, not staple crops, such as feed or ground;

l Organic matter management -such as fertilizing crops with compost or feces, and retaining crop residues in the field to recycle nutrients.

Ecological strengthening needs to be replaced or increased investment. Therefore, we compare the impact of three ecological measures on crop output and reduce the impact of two inputs: synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and farming intensity. Fertilizer provides nitrogen required for crop growth, but may also cause pollution. Get farming (or plowing) can remove weeds, but it will increase soil erosion.

What did we find?

Our results show that ecological practice usually increases the output of agricultural systems. However, when the amount of nitrogen fertilizer is low, the benefits of crops, fertilizer crops and adding organic matter are usually high. When nitrogen fertilizer is high, there is often no benefit.

This shows us that you can use ecological practice or nitrogen fertilizer to increase yield. But if these two methods are used at the same time, the effect is the same as using any method.

We infer that this is because these methods have the same main functions as fertilizers: they provide nitrogen for crops. Diverse crops and fertile crops usually need to add beans in the system. Beans, peas, and clover and other plants fix the nitrogen in the atmosphere and add it to the soil. Fertilizer and compost release from decomposed plant substances release nitrogen.

We infer that this is because these methods have the same main functions as fertilizers: they provide nitrogen for crops. Diverse crops and fertile crops usually need to add beans in the system. Beans, peas, and clover and other plants fix the nitrogen in the atmosphere and add it to the soil. Fertilizer and compost release from decomposed plant materials or livestock waste release nitrogen.

Sometimes, we observe the extra benefits of using ecological practice while high nitrogen. For example, when nitrogen content is high, fertilizer and compost can still increase yield. Other studies have shown that the addition of these organic matter can help improve soil structure and microbial activity. They also help the cycle of soil moisture and other nutrients. The use of two ecological practice at the same time is usually beneficial, because each practice provides different functions.

Similarly, when the function of ecological practice does not overlap, it can increase the output with the investment. For example, this can be achieved by using a small amount of fertilizer to supplement ecological practice.

We also found that under high nitrogen conditions, the diversification of non -bean crops has production benefits. This may be due to the interruption of the cycle of weeds, insect pests and diseases.

In our research, farming and ecological practice do not have a strong interaction, which indicates that each farming method has different functions. This means that farmers can independent their decisions on the use of diverse, fertilized crops and organic substances, so that their cultivation practices can adapt to their environment.

Net effect

Ecological enhancement may be a more fair way to distribute fertilizer materials to improve global food security while minimizing environmental impacts. At present, Africa's average fertilization rate is only a small part of Europe. In particular, the use of small farmers is far lower than its fair share. Too much fertilizer will affect the environment, but too little fertilizer will cause difficulty to produce enough food.

Other studies have shown that if the use of chemical fertilizers is decreased in the current high places (such as large commercial farms in developed countries), the amount of fertilizers can be increased in current very low places (small farmers in developing countries) The ecosystem is overload due to nitrogen pollution.

Our research shows that ecological enhancement helps to achieve this goal.

For the original text:

https://theconVersation.com/farming-nd-fertilisers--eCological-prators-can-Make-A-Difference-188470

Compilation: daisy

Review: SARA

Edit: Pierre

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