Key Technologies and Adaptive Cultivation of Food Crops to Cope with Climate Change

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2024 | Viewed by 2007

Special Issue Editors

College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: climate change; agrometeorology; crop models; agricultural production; remote sensing
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Guest Editor
College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: agroclimatology; climate change impacts and adaptation; bioclimate and models; dry farming

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural production is highly dependent on weather and climate, providing essential food and nutrition for human survival. However, with the excessive use or abuse of natural resources, rapid climate change, and the increasing imbalance between world population and food production, the link between climate change and agricultural production faces key challenges, highlighting the urgent need for innovative agricultural solutions. The key technologies and adaptive cultivation of food crops to cope with climate change include measures and methods such as field management technology, planting system adjustment, and crop model simulation.

  1. Key technologies and adaptive cultivation for continuously improving agricultural productivity and income: Improving sustainable agricultural productivity is crucial for simultaneously addressing the multiple challenges confronting the food system and ensuring the long-term viability of agriculture, which helps to improve food security, alleviate poverty, protect natural resources, mitigate climate change, and establish more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food systems.
  2. Key technologies and adaptive cultivation for adapting and resisting climate change: This includes enhancing the resilience of the food system, improving disaster resilience, and reducing the vulnerability of agriculture to drought, pests, diseases, and other climate related risks and impacts. Additionally, it entails enhancing the adaptability of agriculture to climate change to cope with long-term pressures such as shortened seasons and unstable weather patterns.
  3. Key technologies and adaptive cultivation for reducing or eliminating agricultural greenhouse gas emissions: This includes protecting farmlands to limit the expansion of energy-intensive cities, reducing methane generated by manure management, avoiding deforestation in agriculture, protecting water resources and soil health, introducing renewable energy production on farms, and identifying ways to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Dr. Qi Hu
Prof. Dr. Xuebiao Pan
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • agricultural productivity
  • climate change
  • disaster resilience
  • agricultural greenhouse gas emissions

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 4620 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Agroecological Measures for Climate-Resilient Olive Farming in the Mediterranean
by Oumaima Hrameche, Safiye Tul, Ioanna Manolikaki, Nektaria Digalaki, Ioanna Kaltsa, Georgios Psarras and Georgios Koubouris
Plants 2024, 13(6), 900; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13060900 - 21 Mar 2024
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Abstract
In order to evaluate the potential of climate change mitigation measures on soil physiochemical properties, an experiment based on the application of five agroecological practices such as the addition of composted olive-mill wastes, recycling pruning residue, cover crops, organic insect manure, and reduced [...] Read more.
In order to evaluate the potential of climate change mitigation measures on soil physiochemical properties, an experiment based on the application of five agroecological practices such as the addition of composted olive-mill wastes, recycling pruning residue, cover crops, organic insect manure, and reduced soil tillage, solely or combined, was conducted over two years (2020 to 2022) in a 48-year-old olive plantation. The results showed significant increases in soil water content during the spring and summer periods for the combined treatment (compost + pruning residue + cover crops) (ALL) compared to the control (CONT) by 41.6% and 51.3%, respectively. Also, ALL expressed the highest soil organic matter (4.33%) compared to CONT (1.65%) at 0–10 cm soil depth. When comparing soil nutrient contents, ALL (37.86 mg kg−1) and cover crops (COVER) (37.21 mg kg−1) had significant increases in soil nitrate compared to CONT (22.90 mg kg−1), the lowest one. Concerning exchangeable potassium, ALL (169.7 mg kg−1) and compost (COMP) (168.7 mg kg−1) were higher than CONT (117.93 mg kg−1) at the 0–10 cm soil depth and had, respectively an increase of 100.9% and 60.7% in calcium content compared to CONT. Over the experimental period, the implementation of the five agroecological management practices resulted in enhanced soil fertility. In a long-term Mediterranean context, this study suggests that these sustainable practices would significantly benefit farmers by improving agroecosystem services, reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers, optimizing irrigation water use, and ultimately contributing towards a circular economy. Full article
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17 pages, 2778 KiB  
Article
Evaluating Nitrogen Management Practices for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction in a Maize Farmland in the North China Plain: Adapting to Climate Change
by Huayun He, Qi Hu, Feifei Pan and Xuebiao Pan
Plants 2023, 12(21), 3749; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12213749 - 2 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 810
Abstract
Quantification of the trade-offs among greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yield, and farmers’ incomes is essential for proposing economic and environmental nitrogen (N) management strategies for optimizing agricultural production. A four-year (2017–2020) field experiment (including four treatments: basic N fertilizer treatment (BF), suitable utilization [...] Read more.
Quantification of the trade-offs among greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yield, and farmers’ incomes is essential for proposing economic and environmental nitrogen (N) management strategies for optimizing agricultural production. A four-year (2017–2020) field experiment (including four treatments: basic N fertilizer treatment (BF), suitable utilization of fertilization (SU), emission reduction treatment (ER), and high fertilization (HF)) was conducted on maize (Zea mays L.) in the North China Plain. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method was used in this study to quantify the GHG emissions and farmers’ incomes during the whole maize production process. The total GHG emissions of BF, SU, ER, and HF treatments in the process of maize production are 10,755.2, 12,908.7, 11,950.1, and 14,274.5 kg CO2-eq ha−1, respectively, of which the direct emissions account for 84.8%, 76.8%, 74.9%, and 71.0%, respectively. Adding inhibitors significantly reduced direct GHG emissions, and the N2O and CO2 emissions from the maize fields in the ER treatment decreased by 30.0% and 7.9% compared to those in the SU treatment. Insignificant differences in yield were found between the SU and ER treatments, indicating that adding fertilizer inhibitors did not affect farmers’ incomes while reducing GHG emissions. The yield for SU, ER, and HF treatments all significantly increased by 12.9–24.0%, 10.0–20.7%, and 2.1–17.4% compared to BF, respectively. In comparison with BF, both SU and ER significantly promoted agricultural net profit (ANP) by 16.6% and 12.2%, with mean ANP values of 3101.0 USD ha−1 and 2980.0 USD ha−1, respectively. Due to the high agricultural inputs, the ANP values in the HF treatment were 11.2%, 16.6%, and 12.4% lower than those in the SU treatment in 2018–2020. In conclusion, the combination of N fertilizer and inhibitors proved to be an environmentally friendly, high-profit, and low-emissions production technology while sustaining or even increasing maize yields in the North China Plain, which was conducive to achieving agricultural sustainability. Full article
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