科创中国

In China, considerable cropland previously under grain production has been rapidly converted to greenhouse vegetable production by farmers since 1980s. Vegetable crops generally require higher nitrogen (N) inputs from manure amendments and more frequent tillage and irrigation operations compared to grain crops. Here, we compared potential denitrification-derived N2O emissions across the soil profile (0-90cm depth) between grain and greenhouse vegetable fields. Denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) was assessed in the top 0-15cm soil layer. Soil samples from five wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) - maize (Zea mays L.) fields, paired with adjacent vegetable greenhouse fields, were collected across typical vegetable production regions. Conversion from the grain fields to the greenhouse vegetable fields led to greater potential denitrification-derived N2O emissions in the 0-15 and 15-30cm depths, respectively, with 4 and 3 times higher cumulative emissions over the 10-day incubation. Continuous manure amendments and chemical N input increased water extractable organic carbon and nitrate concentrations, which significantly enhanced potential denitrification-derived N2O production in the 0-30cm soil depth of vegetable crop fields. The differences in microbial community for the two cropping systems did not seem to affect the surface N2O production potential since denitrification enzyme activity were not significantly different between the two production systems. There was a small to negligible potential N2O flux in 30-90cm soil depths for both production systems because of limited carbon availability and microbial activity. Managing surface labile carbon and mineral N pool may be critical in reducing regional N2O emissions in China's greenhouse vegetable production systems.

Cao Jian    Juhwan Lee    Johan Six    Yan Yun    张福锁     Mingsheng Fan   

European Journal of Soil Biology

2015

Intercropping is a farming practice involving two or more crop species, or genotypes, growing together and coexisting for a time. On the fringes of modern intensive agriculture, intercropping is important in many subsistence or low-input/resource-limited agricultural systems. By allowing genuine yield gains without increased inputs, or greater stability of yield with decreased inputs, intercropping could be one route to delivering 'sustainable intensification'. We discuss how recent knowledge from agronomy, plant physiology and ecology can be combined with the aim of improving intercropping systems. Recent advances in agronomy and plant physiology include better understanding of the mechanisms of interactions between crop genotypes and species - for example, enhanced resource availability through niche complementarity. Ecological advances include better understanding of the context-dependency of interactions, the mechanisms behind disease and pest avoidance, the links between above- and below-ground systems, and the role of microtopographic variation in coexistence. This improved understanding can guide approaches for improving intercropping systems, including breeding crops for intercropping. Although such advances can help to improve intercropping systems, we suggest that other topics also need addressing. These include better assessment of the wider benefits of intercropping in terms of multiple ecosystem services, collaboration with agricultural engineering, and more effective interdisciplinary research.

Brooker Rob W.    Bennett Alison E.    Cong Wen-Feng    Tim john Daniell    George Timothy S.    Hallett Paul D.    Cathy Hawes    Iannetta Pietro P. M.    Hamlyn Jones    Karley Alison J.    Long Li    McKenzie    Robin Pakeman    Paterson    Schöb Christian    Jianbo Shen    Squire Geoff    Watson    Zhang Chaochun    张福锁     Zhang Junling    White   

New Phytologist

2015

Air pollution is becoming an increasingly important environmental concern due to its visible negative impact on human health. However, air pollution also affects agricultural crops or food security directly or indirectly, which has not so far received sufficient attention. In this overview, we take ozone (O) as an example to analyze the principles and extent of the impact of air pollution on food security in China based on a review of the literature. Current Opollution shows a clear negative impact on food security, causing around a 10% yield decrease for major cereal crops according to a large number of field studies around the world. The mean yield decrease of winter wheat is predicted to be up to 20% in China, based on the projection of future ground-level Oconcentration in 2020, if no pollution control measures are implemented. Strict mitigation of NOand VOCs (two major precursors of O) emissions is crucial for reducing the negative impacts of ground-level Oon food security. Breeding new crop cultivars with tolerance to high ground-level Oshould receive serious consideration in future research programs. In addition, integrated soil-crop system management will be an important option to mitigate the negative effects of elevated ground-level Oon cereal crop production and food quality.

Zhaozhong Feng    Xuejun Liu    张福锁    

Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

2015

The impacts of different crop rotation systems with their corresponding management practices on grain yield, greenhouse gas emissions, and fertilizer nitrogen (N) and irrigation water use efficiencies are not well documented. This holds especially for the North China Plain which provides the staple food for hundreds of millions of people and where groundwater resources are polluted with nitrate and depleted through irrigation. Here, we report on fertilizer N and irrigation water use, grain yields, and nitrous oxide (NO) and methane (CH) emissions of conventional and optimized winter wheat-summer maize double-cropping systems, and of three alternative cropping systems, namely a winter wheat-summer maize (or soybean)-spring maize system, with three harvests in two years; and a single spring maize system with one crop per year. The results of this two-year study show that the optimized double-cropping system led to a significant increase in grain yields and a significant decrease in fertilizer N use and net greenhouse gas intensity, but the net greenhouse gas NO emissions plus CH uptake and the use of irrigation water did not decrease relative to the conventional system. Compared to the conventional system the net greenhouse gas emissions, net greenhouse gas intensity and use of fertilizer N and irrigation water decreased in the three alternative cropping systems, but at the cost of grain yields except in the winter wheat-summer maize-spring maize system. Net uptake of CH by the soil was little affected by cropping system. Average NO emission factors were only 0.17% for winter wheat and 0.53% for maize. In conclusion, the winter wheat-summer maize-spring maize system has considerable potential to decrease water and N use and decrease NO emissions while maintaining high grain yields and sustainable use of groundwater. © 2013.

Gao Bing    巨晓棠    Su Fang    Qingfeng Meng    Oene Oenema    Peter Christie    Xinping Chen    张福锁    

Science of the Total Environment

2014

Over the past 2000 yr, agriculture in China has transformed from a low-input, low-output organic-based system to an intensive production system that relies heavily on inorganic inputs. The modern high-input, high-output system has provided the nation with basic food self-sufficiency, although at escalating environmental costs. Meanwhile, crop production has been nearly stagnant since the mid-1990s, despite continued increases in production inputs, such as chemical fertilizers. In the future, China must increase agricultural output by 50% to meet its growing food demand. New advances to increase agricultural productivity and improve resource (e.g., N and P) use efficiency will be critical in China for sustainable agriculture and ecosystem services. Here, we discuss an integrated soil-crop system management (ISSM) paradigm that may help achieve the sustainable intensification goal. This paradigm features (i) improving soil quality, (ii) enhancing the use of various nutrient resources, (iii) closing the yield gap, and (iv) effectively reducing N losses. Recent on-farm trials based on ISSM principles almost doubled corn yield, while fertilizer N amounts were similar to current farming methods. This ISSM in China is a novel agricultural paradigm that can improve food security and environmental quality worldwide, especially in regions of high input with low-efficiency systems. © 2014 by the American Society of Agronomy, 5585 Guilford Road, Madison, WI 53711. All rights reserved.

Zhenling Cui    Zhengxia Dou    Xinping Chen    巨晓棠    张福锁    

Agronomy Journal

2014

Summary: Despite increasing evidence that plant diversity in experimental systems may enhance ecosystem productivity, the mechanisms causing this overyielding remain debated. Here, we review studies of overyielding observed in agricultural intercropping systems, and show that a potentially important mechanism underlying such facilitation is the ability of some crop species to chemically mobilize otherwise-unavailable forms of one or more limiting soil nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and micronutrients (iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn)). Phosphorus-mobilizing crop species improve P nutrition for themselves and neighboring non-P-mobilizing species by releasing acid phosphatases, protons and/or carboxylates into the rhizosphere which increases the concentration of soluble inorganic P in soil. Similarly, on calcareous soils with a very low availability of Fe and Zn, Fe- and Zn-mobilizing species, such as graminaceous monocotyledonous and cluster-rooted species, benefit themselves, and also reduce Fe or Zn deficiency in neighboring species, by releasing chelating substances. Based on this review, we hypothesize that mobilization-based facilitative interactions may be an unsuspected, but potentially important mechanism enhancing productivity in both natural ecosystems and biodiversity experiments. We discuss cases in which nutrient mobilization might be occurring in natural ecosystems, and suggest that the nutrient mobilization hypothesis merits formal testing in natural ecosystems. © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

Long Li    David Tilman    Hans gerd Lambers    张福锁    

New Phytologist

2014

Xia Hai-Yong    Zhao JianHua    Jianhao Sun    Xue Yan-Fang    Eagling Tristan    Bao Xingguo    张福锁     Long Li   

Science China Life Sciences

2014

This study investigated NH concentrations in and around a large-scale commercial pig farm with the so-called "gan qing fen" manure collection system near Beijing from April 2009 to August 2011. NH emissions from the fattening pig houses were calculated based on the heat balance method. Monthly concentrations of time-averaged NH in and near the pig house averaged 3 392 and 182 μg m and ranged from 1 044 to 7 514 μg m and 35.4 to 478 μg m, respectively. Daily NH concentrations varied from 767 to 2 389 μg m in the pig house and 184 to 574 μg m outside. Time-averaged NH concentrations varied from 21.6 to 558 μg m within the farm while concentrations outside the farm ranged from 38.4 μg m at a distance of 10 m to 14.0 μg m at a distance of 650 m. Calculated average NH emission rates per pig were highest in summer and lowest in winter, 8.0±5.5 (average±standard deviation) and 2.0±0.4 g day pig, respectively. Average NH emission rates (normalized to 500 kg live weight, expressed as AU) were highest during spring and summer (average 65.4±25.0 and 53.7±35.6 g day AU) and lowest in autumn and winter (average 25.4±9.3 and 13.7±2.7 g day AU). Average NH emission per area (m) from house was almost three times higher in summer (average 3.5±2.4 g day m) than in winter (average 1.1±0.3 g day m). © Author(s) 2014.

Wen Xu    Zheng Kun    Xuejun Liu    Meng Lingmin    Huaitalla Roxana M.    Jianlin Shen    Eberhard Härtung    Gallmann Eva    Roelcke Marco    张福锁    

Atmospheric Pollution Research

2014

Micronutrient deficiency commonly occurs in calcareous soils. We hypothesized that localized application of ammonium in the P-banding zone could improve micronutrient uptake and thus grain yield through inducing rhizosphere acidification and stimulating root proliferation. A two-year field experimentation with maize growing on a calcareous soil was conducted with localized application of P (superphosphate) only (P), P plus ammonium as ammonium sulfate (NH-N+P) or urea plus P (urea+P) at sowing and jointing. Compared with localized urea+P, localized NH-N+P significantly improved root dry weight, whole root length and first-order lateral root density/length at the seedling stage, as well as chlorophyll content and net photosynthetic rate at flowering. Shoot Zn content was 30-50% greater at the seedling stage and 22-36% higher at grain maturity in localized NH-N+P compared with localized P and urea+P in 2012 and 2013. The Fe content at the seedling, flowering and harvest stages in localized NH-N+P was higher than that in localized P, and also exhibited an increasing trend relative to localized urea+P. Compared with localized urea+P, grain Zn concentration in the NH-N+P treatment increased by 17% in 2012, and exhibited an increasing trend in 2013. Grain Fe concentration in the NH-N+P treatment increased in 2013 in comparison with the P and urea+P treatments. Maize grain yield in localized NH-N+P increased by 10-14% in 2012 and 13-25% in 2013 compared with localized P and urea+P. The results indicate that localized application of NH-N+P may be an efficient approach to improving maize growth, grain Zn and Fe accumulation and yield via modifying root traits (such as root length, lateral root proliferation and root length density), and intensifying rhizosphere acidification by ammonium uptake. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Ma Qinghua    Wang Xin    Li    Haigang Li    Lingyun Cheng    张福锁     Zed Rengel    Jianbo Shen   

Field Crops Research

2014

Philip Haygarth    Helen Jarvie    Powers Steve M.    Sharpley Andrew    James Elser    Shen Jianbo    Peterson Heidi M.    Chan Neng-Iong    Howden    Tim ed Burt    Fred Worrall    张福锁     Xuejun Liu   

Environmental Science and Technology

2014