Plants (Jul 2024)

Straw Retention with Reduced Fertilization Enhances Soil Properties, Crop Yields, and Emergy Sustainability of Wheat–Soybean Rotation

  • Qi Yu,
  • Xiaoying Jiao,
  • Chenyu Wang,
  • Yanbo Wang,
  • Xiyang Xu,
  • Zhenyuan Liu,
  • Guangxin Ren,
  • Yongzhong Feng

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13131812
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 13
p. 1812

Abstract

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Cereal + legume rotation is an integrated system that facilitates soil fertility and sustainable agricultural production. However, research on the management compatibility affecting soil physico-chemical properties yields overall agro-ecosystem sustainability, but profitability is lacking, especially under straw retention and potential reductions in fertilizer application. An 11-year field experiment investigated three treatments: no straw retention + traditional mineral fertilization (TNS), straw retention + traditional mineral fertilization (TS), and straw retention + reduced mineral fertilization (DS). Compared with TNS, TS significantly improved soil physico-chemical properties, including macro-aggregates (R > 0.25 mm), porosity, field water capacity (FWC), soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, total nitrogen storage, microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) by 17.3%, 3.2%, 13.0%, 5.5%, 3.2%, 15.5%, and 13.8%, respectively. TS also significantly increased total (wheat + soybean) yields (TYs), economic profits, and emergy sustainability index (ESI) by 15.8%, 25.0%, 3.7 times that of TNS, respectively. Surprisingly, compared with TS, DS further significantly improved R > 0.25 mm, porosity, FWC, SOC storage, MBC, MBN, TY, economic profits, and ESI by 11.4%, 1.5%, 6.1%, 3.0%, 10.6%, 7.2%, 5.7%, 11.1%, and 36.5%, respectively. Overall, retaining straw with reduced fertilization enhances soil properties, yields, and emergy sustainability in wheat–soybean rotation systems.

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