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Agronomy
Special Issues
Sustainable Agriculture — Practices and Implications
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Sustainable Agriculture — Practices and Implications

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 3560

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Surendra Kumar Singh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Former Director, ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Vayusena Nagar, Nagpur 440033, Maharashtra, India
Interests: area specific sustainable practices; soil science; pedology; land evaluation; land use planning
Dr. Vadivel Arunachalam

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
ICAR - Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Ella, Old Goa 403402, India
Interests: horticulture; spices; plantation crops

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable agriculture (SA) is the efficient production of safe, high-quality agricultural products in such a way that protects and improves the natural environment and the social and economic conditions of the farmers, their employees, and local communities. It also safeguards the health and welfare of all farmed species. Sustainable agriculture practices include organic farming, agroforestry, natural farming, sustainable rice intensification, precision farming, crop rotation, inter-cropping, and cover crops. Integrated pest and disease management, vermicomposting, contour farming, mulching, integrated farming system, rainwater harvesting, artificial recharge of groundwater, and floating farming are also a part of SA. The applications of one or more sustainable practices on a piece of land are based on three interactive components, economic profitability, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility. Degradation on 121 million hectares in India and on 2 billion hectares globally indicated an imbalance in the outlined factors. These call for a better understanding of area-specific sustainable practices and agroecological approaches for their up-scaling. The Special Issue aims to discuss sustainable agricultural practices, their design, management, and implications in a geographic setting to address the objectives of sustainable intensification of the food production systems, alternative farming systems, climate change food security and safety, food loss innovation and waste management, crop storage, and household treatment.

Dr. Surendra Kumar Singh
Guest Editor

Dr. Vadivel Arunachalam
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • area specific sustainable practices
  • opportunity and challenges
  • policy ecosystem

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3877 KiB  
Article
Aggregate-Breaking Mechanism Response to Polyacrylamide Application of Purple Soils in Southwestern China Using Le Bissonnais Method
by Yong Wang, Jiaqi Wang, Zhenzhen Ma and Xinlan Liang
Agronomy 2023, 13(9), 2222; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13092222 - 25 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 767
Abstract
Polyacrylamide (PAM) is a water-soluble polymer with strong cohesiveness and a strong water absorption capacity, and it has been widely used to modify soil structural stability. However, little information is available on the impact of PAM application on the aggregate-breaking process of purple [...] Read more.
Polyacrylamide (PAM) is a water-soluble polymer with strong cohesiveness and a strong water absorption capacity, and it has been widely used to modify soil structural stability. However, little information is available on the impact of PAM application on the aggregate-breaking process of purple soils in hilly areas of southwestern China. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the influence of PAM application on the aggregate stability of purple soil in terms of different breakdown mechanisms at different hillslope locations. Three disruptive tests employing the Le Bissonnais method (FW, fast-wetting sieving; SW, slow-wetting sieving; and WS, wet-stirring sieving) were used to determine the mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD), and mass fractal dimension (D) of the soil aggregates, and soil erodibility factor (K) was calculated as an index of soil anti-erodibility. Overall, the major aggregate-breaking mechanism for purple soils was the following: SW (differential swelling) > WS (mechanical breakdown) > FW (slaking). The content of water-stable aggregates (>0.25 mm) obviously rose after PAM application, with the most significant influences shown under FW. A significant difference in MWD was observed between PAM application and without polyacrylamide application (CK) under WS (p < 0.05). However, there was a significant difference in GMD between PAM and CK (p < 0.05) under FW and SW. In comparison with CK, D value in PAM under FW and SW was significantly reduced, mainly at the slope locations of 0 and 20 m. A descending order of FW, WS, and SW was found on the basis of K value at different slope locations. These findings contribute to improved understanding of proper application of soil amendments to control soil and water loss in purple soils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture — Practices and Implications)
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16 pages, 6449 KiB  
Article
Data-Driven Projections Demonstrate Non-Farming Use of Cropland in Non-Major Grain-Producing Areas: A Case Study of Shaanxi Province, China
by Linna Linghu, Peijun Sun, Meng Zhang and Yue Wu
Agronomy 2023, 13(8), 2060; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13082060 - 4 Aug 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1096
Abstract
The non-farming use of cropland has led to food insecurity in China due to drastic land use (LU) changes under the stresses of ecological restoration and urbanization, particularly in non-major grain-producing areas. Questions were raised about spatiotemporal cropland losses/gains and their drivers in [...] Read more.
The non-farming use of cropland has led to food insecurity in China due to drastic land use (LU) changes under the stresses of ecological restoration and urbanization, particularly in non-major grain-producing areas. Questions were raised about spatiotemporal cropland losses/gains and their drivers in these areas in the future for sustainable development of the agriculture sector. However, the answers to these questions have not been well acknowledged. This study, therefore, presents analyses of cropland area change from 1990 to 2018 and from 2018 to 2051 in Shaanxi province based on the Future Land Use Simulation (FLUS) model that follows the integration of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 2 and the Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (SSP245) within the International Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6). The results highlight that ecological restoration and fast-paced urbanization mainly drove the alarming non-farming use of cropland. The per capita cropland area is projected to increase, but the cropland loss will still occur, which potentially causes food insecurity. Thus, food security will be a challenging issue in the near future. The quantitative findings call for careful designs of LU policies, taking into account cropland protection, socio-economic development, and ecological restoration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture — Practices and Implications)
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20 pages, 5049 KiB  
Article
Assessment of the Spatial Variability and Uncertainty of Shreddable Pruning Biomass in an Olive Grove Based on Canopy Volume and Tree Projected Area
by Antonio Rodríguez-Lizana, Alzira Ramos, María João Pereira, Amílcar Soares and Manuel Castro Ribeiro
Agronomy 2023, 13(7), 1697; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13071697 - 25 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1111
Abstract
Olive pruning residues are a by-product that can be applied to soil or used for energy production in a circular economy model. Its benefits depend on the amount of pruning, which varies greatly within farms. This study aimed to investigate the spatial variability [...] Read more.
Olive pruning residues are a by-product that can be applied to soil or used for energy production in a circular economy model. Its benefits depend on the amount of pruning, which varies greatly within farms. This study aimed to investigate the spatial variability of shreddable olive pruning in a traditional olive grove in Córdoba (Spain) with an area of 15 ha and trees distanced 12.5 m from each other. To model the spatial variability of shreddable olive pruning, geostatistical methods of stochastic simulation were applied to three correlated variables measured on sampled trees: the crown projected area (n = 928 trees), the crown volume (n = 167) and the amount of shreddable pruning (n = 59). Pearson’s correlation between pairs of variables varied from 0.71 to 0.76. The amount of pruning showed great variability, ranging from 7.6 to 76 kg tree−1, with a mean value of 37 kg tree−1. Using exponential and spherical variogram models, the spatial continuity of the variables under study was established. Shreddable dry pruning weight values showed spatial autocorrelation up to 180 m. The spatial uncertainty of the estimation was obtained using sequential simulation algorithms. Stochastic simulation algorithms provided 150 possible images of the amount of shreddable pruning on the farm, using tree projected area and crown volume as secondary information. The interquartile range and 90% prediction interval were used as indicators of the uncertainty around the mean value. Uncertainty validation was performed using accuracy plots and the associated G-statistic. Results indicate with high confidence (i.e., low uncertainty) that shreddable dry pruning weight in the mid-western area of the farm will be much lower than the rest of the farm. In the same way, results show with high confidence that dry pruning weight will be much higher in a small area in the middle east of the farm. The values of the G-statistic ranged between 0.89 and 0.90 in the tests performed. The joint use of crown volume and projected areas is valuable in estimating the spatial variability of the amount of pruning. The study shows that the use of prediction intervals enables the evaluation of farm areas and informed management decisions with a low level of risk. The methodology proposed in this work can be extrapolated to other 3D crops without requiring modifications. On a larger scale, it can be useful for predicting optimal locations for biomass plants, areas with high potential as carbon sinks or areas requiring special soil protection measures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture — Practices and Implications)
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