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Sustainable Intensification in the Future Agriculture: Bridging the Gap between Research and Application

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 5748

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zahoor Ahmad

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Soil Science and Climate Sciences, The Univesity of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan
Interests: biochar as pollutant adsorbent in soil and water; phosphorus pollution from non-point sources; soil salinity; sustainable soil amendments; field crop production
Dr. Ahmed Mosa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Soils Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, 35516 Mansoura, Egypt
Interests: biochar functionalizations for agro-environmental applications; environmental soil chemistry; wastewater remediation for irrigation; soil nutrient dynamics; arid soils management; soil contamination
Dr. Muhammad Shahid

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Nutrition and Food Systems, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Interests: abiotic stresses (salinity; drought; heat; heavy metal toxicity); biochar as soilless media amendment; stress physiology; ecophysiology plant nutrients
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is a debate between researchers and growers regarding the applicability of sustainable intensification to sustain the food security in the future. Consequently, future research should address maximizing soil productivity in a sustainable manner (intensification) and enrolling other marginal soils in sustainable production (extensification) with emphasis on harness ecosystem services and service-providing biota to meet the growing food, feed and fiber demands. This special issue, therefore, will help in bridging the gap between research and application of the sustainable intensification in the future agriculture.

Followed by industrial revolution in late 1900, green revolution in 1950s helped to feed the world growing population through agricultural intensification, which involved synthetic fertilizers application, chemical pest control, genetic engineering of hybrid varieties, modern irrigation designing and farming machinery. These intensification toolboxes reshaped the life style of human being and welfare. However, intensification, without a sustainability focus, has opened doors of new challenges for generations to come in the form of environmental pollution. It is quite difficult to exactly trace back the dates in literature when mankind realized the change in environment; however, the realization of changing climate and its serious consequences on today’s human health and future generation have made man to prevent polluting the planet further and find out the ways to recover the damage done so far through environmental conservation. There is consensus that modern agricultural systems should sustain agricultural production and minimize the potential adverse effects on the biosphere. FAO has introduced “Sustainable Intensification” as a future direction for agricultural production for addressing the challenges of overpopulation, food security, climate change and resource conservation. Sustainable intensification is championed by scientists as a nature-based alternative to the conventional intensive agriculture although producers meet this approach with little interest arguing that more food should be produced to safeguard the maximum production. Consequently, future research of sustainable intensification should emphasis on maximizing the productivity of the existing agricultural footprint and bringing marginal soils into sustainable agriculture (extensification). This future research should also involve harness ecosystem services and service-providing biota that provide direct or indirect contributions for sustainable agricultural production.

Therefore, we encourage you to submit articles covering the following issues:

  • Enhancing Soil Health
  • Restoring Biodiversity of the Rhizosphere
  • Improving Nutrient Supply Potentials of Soil
  • Sustainable Land Reclamation
  • Efficient Use of Water Resources: Sustainability Options
  • Recycling Agricultural Byproducts into Value-added Products
  • Organic Additives Functionalization for Agro-environmental Applications
  • Wastewater Remediation for Irrigation: Sustainability Options
  • Sustainable Pest Management
  • Maximizing Productivity of Organic Farming Systems

Dr. Zahoor Ahmad
Dr. Ahmed Mosa
Dr. Muhammad Shahid
Guest Editors

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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • healthy soil
  • sustainable agriculture
  • soil intensification
  • biodiversity
  • sustainable production
  • organic farming
  • environment
  • pollution

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2929 KiB  
Article
Double Coating as a Novel Technology for Controlling Urea Dissolution in Soil: A Step toward Improving the Sustainability of Nitrogen Fertilization Approaches
by Ayman El-Ghamry, El-Sayed El-Naggar, Abdallah M. Elgorban, Bin Gao, Zahoor Ahmad and Ahmed Mosa
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10707; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910707 - 27 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2357
Abstract
This research introduces a novel technology for reducing ordinary urea (OU) dissolution by developing double-coated urea (DCU) using phosphate rock (PR) as an outer layer to reduce its hydrolysis and sodium thiosulfate (STS) as an inner layer to inhibit the urease enzyme and [...] Read more.
This research introduces a novel technology for reducing ordinary urea (OU) dissolution by developing double-coated urea (DCU) using phosphate rock (PR) as an outer layer to reduce its hydrolysis and sodium thiosulfate (STS) as an inner layer to inhibit the urease enzyme and nitrification process. Due to the double coating, the nitrogen content of DCU was lower than that of the OU (36.7% vs. 46.5%). The ultramorphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the controlled coating of urea, resulting from the outer layer of PR, was due to the adhesive effect of urea formaldehyde (UF), which was used as a glue. In addition, the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of the DCU revealed its high degree of agglomeration. The mechanical hardness of DCU was higher compared to that of OU (1.38 vs. 1.08 kgf). The seven-day dissolution rate test showed that OU reached 100% dissolution on the fifth day. The rate of DCU, however, was significantly lower (32% dissolution in the seventh day). Cumulative NO3− and NH4+ losses from a clay soil sample reached 68.3% and 7.6%, respectively, with OU measuring 40.5% compared to 4.9% for DCU 70 days after application. Field experiments showed a significant improvement in the marketable yield and agronomic nitrogen efficiency (ANE) of maize grains and zucchini fruits fertilized with DCU. Furthermore, the macro and micronutrient concentrations in maize grains and zucchini fruits showed an increase in the plants fertilized with DCU. In summary, double coating can be introduced as a novel technique to control urea dissolution in soil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Intensification in the Future Agriculture: Bridging the Gap between Research and Application)
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35 pages, 894 KiB  
Article
A Novel Approached Based on T-Spherical Fuzzy Schweizer-Sklar Power Heronian Mean Operator for Evaluating Water Reuse Applications under Uncertainty
by Qaisar Khan, Jeonghwan Gwak, Muhammad Shahzad and Muhammad Kamran Alam
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7108; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137108 - 24 Jun 2021
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 1939
Abstract
The T-Spherical Fuzzy set (T-SPHFS) is one of the core simplifications of quite a lot of fuzzy concepts such as fuzzy set (FS), intuitionistic fuzzy set (ITFS), picture fuzzy set (PIFS), Q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (Q-RUOFS), etc. T-SPHFS reveals fuzzy judgment by the [...] Read more.
The T-Spherical Fuzzy set (T-SPHFS) is one of the core simplifications of quite a lot of fuzzy concepts such as fuzzy set (FS), intuitionistic fuzzy set (ITFS), picture fuzzy set (PIFS), Q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (Q-RUOFS), etc. T-SPHFS reveals fuzzy judgment by the degree of positive membership, degree of abstinence, degree of negative membership, and degree of refusal with relaxed conditions, and this is a more powerful mathematical tool to pair with inconsistent, indecisive, and indistinguishable information. In this article, several novel operational laws for T-SPFNs based on the Schweizer–Sklar t-norm (SSTN) and the Schweizer–Sklar t-conorm (SSTCN) are initiated, and some desirable characteristics of these operational laws are investigated. Further, maintaining the dominance of the power aggregation (POA) operators that confiscate the ramifications of the inappropriate data and Heronian mean (HEM) operators that consider the interrelationship among the input information being aggregated, we intend to focus on the T-Spherical fuzzy Schweizer–Sklar power Heronian mean (T-SPHFSSPHEM) operator, the T-Spherical fuzzy Schweizer–Sklar power geometric Heronian mean (T-SPHFSSPGHEM) operator, the T-Spherical fuzzy Schweizer–Sklar power weighted Heronian mean (T-SPHFSSPWHEM) operator, the T-Spherical fuzzy Schweizer–Sklar power weighted geometric Heronian mean (T-SPHFSSPWGHEM) operator, and their core properties and exceptional cases in connection with the parameters. Additionally, deployed on these newly initiated aggregation operators (AOs), a novel multiple attribute decision making (MADM) model is proposed. Then, the initiated model is applied to the City of Penticton (British Columbia, Canada) to select the best choice among the accessible seven water reuse choices to manifest the practicality and potency of the preferred model and a comparison with the proffered models is also particularized. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Intensification in the Future Agriculture: Bridging the Gap between Research and Application)
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