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Journal of Integrative Agriculture
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Optimizing tillage and fertilization practices to improve the carbon footprint and energy efficiency of wheat-maize cropping systems
Kun Han1, 2, Xinzhu Li2, Liang Jia2, Dazhao Yu2, Wenhua Xu2, Hongkun Chen3, Tao Song4, Peng Liu1

1 National Key Laboratory for Crop Biology, Key Laboratory for Crop Water Physiology and Drought-tolerance Germplasm Improvement, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China 

2 Kingenta Ecological Engineering Group Co., Ltd., Linyi 276000, China 

3 Heze Kingenta Ecological Engineering Group Co., Ltd., Heze 274000, China 

4 Qingyuan Kingenta Ecological Engineering Group Co., Ltd., Qingyuan 511500, China 

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摘要  为了促进农业的绿色可持续发展和高效生产,耕作方式和施肥需要进一步优化。本研究进行了3年的大田试验来评估耕作方式和施肥对华北平原小麦-玉米种植体系碳足迹CF能量效率的影响耕作方式为免耕(NT)、常规耕作CT、旋耕RT和深松旋耕(SRT);施肥方式无机肥(IF)和有机无机混合肥(HF)结果表明,最主要的能投入和温室气体(GHG)排放来源于肥料和燃料。在同一施肥方式下,耕作方式对小麦玉米产量、利润、CF、能利用效率(EUE)或能生产力EP的影响趋势如下SRT>RT>CT>NT。在同一耕作条件下,IF处理相比,HF的能耗较高,温室气体排放和CF较低,产量和效益较总之不同强度的耕作方式NTRTSRTCT施肥方式中HF综合性能更好SRT结合HF能显著降低CF并增加EUE提高可持续性。耕作方式和施肥的优化缓解粮食安全压力、能源危机和生态安全威胁

Abstract  To make agricultural systems sustainable in terms of their greenness and efficiency, it is essential to optimize the tillage and fertilization practices.  To assess the effect of tilling and fertilization practices in the wheat-maize cropping systems, we carried out a three-year field experiment designed to quantify the carbon footprint (CF), and energy efficiency of the cropping systems in the North China Plain.  As the study parameters, we used four tillage practices (no tillage (NT), conventional tillage (CT), rotary tillage (RT) and subsoiling rotary tillage (SRT)), and two fertilizer regimes (inorganic fertilizer (IF), and hybrid fertilizer with organic and inorganic components (HF)).  Our results indicated that the most prominent energy inputs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could be ascribed to the use of fertilizers and fuel consumption.  Assuming the same fertilization regime, ranking the tillage patterns with respect to the value of the crop yield, the profit, the CF, the energy use efficiency (EUE) or the energy productivity (EP) for either wheat or maize always gave the following result: SRT>RT>CT>NT.  For the same tillage, the energy consumption associated with HF was higher than IF, but its GHG emissions and CF were lower while the yield and profit were better.  In terms of the overall performance, tilling is more beneficial than NT, and reduced tillage (RT and SRT) are more beneficial than CT.  The fertilization regime with the best overall performance was HF.  Combining SRT with HF has significant potential for reducing CF and increasing EUE, improving the sustainability.  Adopting measures promoting these optimizations can help overcome the challenges posed by lack of food security, energy crises and ecological stress.
Keywords:  reduced tillage       organic fertilizer              greenhouse gases              C footprint              energy use efficiency  
Online: 03 April 2024  
About author:  Kun Han, E-mail: hankun@sdau.edu.cn; #Correspondence Peng Liu, Tel/Fax: +86-538-8242653, E-mail: liupengsdau@126.com

Cite this article: 

Kun Han, Xinzhu Li, Liang Jia, Dazhao Yu, Wenhua Xu, Hongkun Chen, Tao Song, Peng Liu. 2024. Optimizing tillage and fertilization practices to improve the carbon footprint and energy efficiency of wheat-maize cropping systems. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, Doi:10.1016/j.jia.2024.03.026

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