Agronomy

The staking (elevating creeping vines above the ground with poles) of yam is practiced to optimize crop yield, but its effect on soil loss due to crop harvesting (SLCH-soil adhering to harvested tubers) and its associated carbon loss has not been investigated globally. A 3-year field experiment was conducted to study the yam (Dioscorea rotundata) staking effect on SLCH and to examine the environmental effect of soil carbon loss. Staking reduced soil loss due to crop harvesting by 55.6% and increased yam yield by 33.3% when compared to un-staking. Soil carbon loss and root hair weight per tuber yield decreased by 47.7 and 58.4%, respectively, under staking compared with un-staking practices. The un-staking with higher moisture (≃42%) exported two times more soil-available nutrients (N, P, K and Ca) than staking. SLCH was also linearly related to root hair weight (R² = 0.88–0.75; p < 0.05) and moisture content (R² = 0.79–0.63; p < 0.05). The lower ratio of root hair weight to tuber yield coupled with moderate mound moisture in staking neutralized its higher tuber yield effect on SLCH by reducing soil loss and its carbon loss. Thus, yam staking mitigates soil loss and its carbon loss which can increase the sequestration potential of soil carbon stock. Full article

Given water pollution increases in aquatic ecosystems resulting from industrialization and rapid urbanization, appropriate treatment strategies to alleviate water pollution are crucial. The spatiotemporal distribution, sources, and potential risk of heavy metals and organic compounds were determined in surface water from the Han River watershed (n = 100) in wet and dry seasons. The inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (Cr and As), mercury analyzer (Hg), and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometer (organic compounds) were used to analyze the target compounds. Total concentration and detection frequency were in the order: Cr (2.375 µg/L, 100%) > As (1.339 µg/L, 100%) > Hg (0.007 µg/L, 100%) for heavy metals, and carbofuran (0.051 µg/L, 75%) > bisphenol A (0.040 µg/L, 47%) > quinoline (0.020 µg/L, 32%) for organic compounds. The target compounds showed the highest concentration in the area near industrial facilities. High concentrations and risk levels of all target compounds, except quinoline, were observed during the wet season. Principal component analysis indicated anthropogenic activities were the primary source of pollution. Cr showed the most prominent environmental impact in the wet season, suggesting its ecological risk. Additional monitoring is required for clear risk pollutant assessments in aquatic ecosystems to aid policy implementation. Full article

Rice grain production is important for the world economy. Determining the moisture content of the grains, at several stages of production, is crucial for controlling the quality, safety, and storage of the grain. This work inspects how well rice images from global and local descriptors work for determining the moisture content of the grains using artificial vision and intelligence techniques. Three sets of images of rice grains from the INIAP 12 variety (National Institute of Agricultural Research of Ecuador) were captured with a mobile camera. The first one with natural light and the other ones with a truncated pyramid-shaped structure. Then, a set of global descriptors (color, texture) and a set of local descriptors (AZAKE, BRISK, ORB, and SIFT) in conjunction with the dominate technique bag of visual words (BoVW) were used to analyze the content of the image with classification and regression algorithms. The results show that detecting humidity through images with classification and regression algorithms is possible. Finally, f1-score values of at least 0.9 were accomplished for global color descriptors and of 0.8 for texture descriptors, in contrast to the local descriptors (AKAZE, BRISK, and SIFT) that reached up to an f1-score of 0.96. Full article

Acidic cations such as Al, Fe, and Mn tend to fix P in soils, and this reaction make P unavailable for plant uptake. Several conventional strategies for farmers had been proposed to ameliorate Al toxicity either via liming or continuous P fertilization. However, these approaches are not only expensive but are also environmental unfriendly. Thus, a sorption study was carried out using charcoal and sago bark ash as soil amendments to determine their effects on P sorption characteristics of low pH soils. Phosphorus sorption determination was based on standard procedures and the P adsorption data for the samples tested in this study were fitted to the Langmuir equation. The results suggest that the combined use of charcoal and sago bark ash decreased P adsorption and increased P desorption relative to the untreated soils. Organic matter in the charcoal reduced P sorption by providing more negatively charged surfaces, thus increasing anion repulsion. Apart from increasing the amount of P adsorbed in the soil, the use of the sago bark ash increased the amount of P desorbed because the primary reaction between the sago bark ash and soils is an acid neutralization reaction. These improvements do not only reduce P fixation in acid soils but they also promote the effective utilization of nutrients via the timely release of nutrients for maximum crop production. In conclusion, the incorporation of charcoal and sago bark ash to the soil had a positive effect on replenishing the soil solution’s P. The organic matter of the charcoal reduces P sorption capacity by blocking P binding sites, increasing the negative electric potential in the plane of adsorption, causing steric hindrance on the mineral surfaces and decreasing goethite and hematite-specific surface areas. However, there is a need for the inclusion of more soil chemical, physical, and mineralogical properties in predicting soil P sorption to enhance the reliability of the findings. Full article

Several technologies have been provided to farmers to increase production under the rainfed systems of Ethiopia. However, much attention has been focused on drought emergency relief and associated interventions. Conservation agriculture (CA), among others, has been recently encouraged as part of the sustainable intensification technology in the Ethiopian smallholder farming systems. However, CA research in Ethiopia has traditionally stayed for a long time on a station-based research approach over a controlled environment followed by demonstration plots conducted, in most cases, for a short period. Considering large natural agro-hydro-ecological diversifications and the socio-economic conditions of smallholder farmers, it is possible to envisage that various versions of CA may be adopted based on different climate and topographic settings. Hence it entails various forms of adoption research depending on the biophysical and socio-economic conditions. Therefore, adopting CA technology is not as simple as adopting the technology or its components, as adoption is not only based on benefits but is also a process of inculcating CA into the human and social elements (culture, gender, social, and beliefs), and integrating CA within the farming systems (e.g., crop type, rotations, and agronomic management), and production systems (e.g., irrigated, rainfed, and livestock). In this regard, a review of CA technology usage provides an important perspective to explore the findings and the functionality of current CA research systems regarding the nature of its development, promotion, and dissemination in Ethiopia. This manuscript explores how CA is viewed by local farmers and associated researchers using the results from station to farmer-designed on-farm studies in the Ethiopian highlands, including irrigated and rain-fed production systems. This review paper will be crucially important for researchers and policymakers to develop conservation agriculture as one strategic issue for future sustainable irrigation and natural resource conservation. Full article

Ureolytic microbes in soil produce urease to catalyze the hydrolysis of urea to NH₃/NH₄⁺. Manure is widely applied in agriculture and has the potential to influence soil urease activity. In this study, we examined the responses of the ureolytic microbial community to manure application in two agricultural soils from north (N) and south (S) China using high-throughput sequencing of the ureC genes. We found that N soil and S soil harbored significantly distinct ureolytic communities, as no OTU was shared between two locations. The slight variation of the ureolytic community (32.2%, Adonis) was observed in N soil where low rates of manure were applied. However, dramatic alteration of the structure of ureolytic community (83.4%, Adonis) was found, possibly by promoting the growth of Betaproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria and the suppression of the growth of Actinobacteria in S soil where high rates of manure were inputted. The total C and C/N ratio were the main environmental factors driving the microbial communities. The relative ratios of ureC to 16S rRNA genes ranged from 1.5 to 3.5% among the two soils. The abundance of ureC genes was significantly and positively correlated with total phosphorus (TP, r = 0.87, p < 0.001). Positive correlations between the urease activity and soil available NH₄⁺ (r = 0.81, p = 0.001), TP (r = 0.84, p = 0.001), and the abundance of ureC (r = 0.87, p < 0.001) were observed in our study. We speculate that sufficient soil phosphorus promotes the growth of ureolytic microbes, which results in higher urease activity and the greater release of available NH₄⁺. Full article

Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) is considered one of the most destructive insect pests of chickpea crops in Morocco; however, the extent of the yield loss it causes in Morocco is unknown. This study assessed the yield losses and pod damage caused by the chickpea pod borer H. armigera on four improved Kabuli varieties with insecticide treatment at two different locations. The second part of this study investigated the contact and systemic toxicity of different biological and selective insecticides in the control of the larvae of H. armigera under controlled laboratory and field conditions. The results demonstrated that the yield losses due to H. armigera infestation were in the range of 14.3–31.2%. Chickpea pod borer infestation resulted in losses in the total seed weight for all the chickpea varieties, with the highest yield losses for Zahor (F84-145C) being 31.18% at Allal Tazi followed by Farihane (F84-79C) with 27.38% at the Marchouch station. Emamectin benzoate at 250 g/ha showed a high level of larvicidal and systemic activity, with 100% mortality 24 h after application. Indoxacarb at 25 mL/100 L water, recorded 100% and 92% larval mortality in larvicidal and systemic activity, 48 h after application, respectively. The bioinsecticide spinosad in 30 mL/100 L water resulted in 88% and 92% larval mortality in contact and systemic activity, 48 h after application, respectively. Under field conditions, the two insecticides emamectin benzoate and indoxacarb were found to be highly effective in reducing the H. armigera larval population and pod damage after two sprays. Both insecticide treatments significantly increased grain yields compared with the untreated plots, with 25.8% and 24.5%, respectively. These findings showed that two applications of the selective chemical insecticides emamectin benzoate or indoxacarb with a week interval starting from the pod setting could be incorporated into the management strategies for the control of H. armigera. Full article

In this study, a novel slow-release fertilizer (SRF) consisting of kaolinite and K₂SO₄ was prepared, employing the process of mechanochemical milling in a planetary ball mill. To obtain the optimum milling time and speed, several samples were made at fixed mass ratios of kaolinite: K₂SO₄ (3:1). The milling rotational speed ranged from 200 to 700 rpm for 120 min. Different milling times ranging from 60 to 180 min at fixed 600 rpm milling speed were also investigated to evaluate the incorporation of K₂SO₄ and to measure the liberation of K⁺ and SO₄²⁻ ions into solution. The properties of the studied samples were analyzed by Fourier transformation infrared spectrometry (FTIR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and ion chromatography (IC). The mechanochemical process is a green chemistry procedure that is successfully applied to incorporate K₂SO₄ into the amorphous kaolinite structure. The slow-release performance was evaluated by determining the K⁺ and SO₄²⁻ content in the aqueous solution upon leaching. The optimum released amount of K⁺ after 24 h was 32 mg L⁻¹ for the milling conditions of 180 min and 700 rpm, indicating that K₂SO₄-kaolinite has good slow-release properties. The novel SRF is cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and improves the fertilizer’s efficiency in many agricultural applications. Full article

Nitrogen (N) availability is generally a limiting factor in highly acidic soil, which could be improved by amending these soils with alkaline materials. Soil extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) plays an important role in N transformation; a current knowledge gap is how this occurs in acidic soils amended with alkaline material. The present 45-day incubation experiment was designed to examine the effects of different amounts of alkaline materials (urea and/or calcium–silicon–magnesium–potassium fertilizer (CSMP)) on N transformation. The results show that soil pH significantly increased after the CSMP amendment (1.2 units) and increased soil net N mineralization (R_min), net nitrification (R_nit) rates, and net ammonification (R_amo) rates. CSMP amendment changed the different soil EEA but with differing or opposing effects, e.g., R_nit was positively correlated with the activities of L-leucine aminopeptidase, β-xylosidase, α-glucosidase, and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase but negatively correlated with β-1, 4-glucosidase and β-cellobiosidase. A machine learning analysis indicated that the best predictor for R_min and R_amo was soil pH, and for R_nit, it was nitrate. The results of the present study improve our understanding of N availability in acidic soils amended with materials to control soil pH. Such knowledge could lead to more bespoke nutrient management planning at the field scale, leading to better agronomic and environmental outcomes. Full article

The root system is the only vital organ for plants to connect with soil moisture and nutrients and obtain feedback information. This research aimed to explore the response of different spike type winter wheat varieties to plant and row spacing configurations. Multi-spike and large-spike winter wheat varieties were used as materials. By setting different plant row configurations and planting densities, the spatial and temporal distribution of root length density, root diameter, root dry weight density, and the main control factors of root growth and development of winter wheat during the whole growth period were studied. The results showed that the root system was the most widely distributed and the root diameter was the largest in the 0–40 cm soil depth, with an average root system diameter of more than 0.5 mm. The root length density and root diameter peaked at the heading stage, decreased at the maturity stage, and the root dry weight density peaked at the jointing stage. The jointing stage and heading stage are the most vigorous periods of root growth in winter wheat, when the center of gravity of root growth in winter wheat is gradually moving down. Therefore, the rapid growth and elongation time of a root system can be effectively prolonged at the jointing stage and heading stage, and the root growth rate can be improved. Promoting root thickening can effectively meet the needs for water and nutrients, for the formation and filling of aboveground plants and grains, in the later stage, which is conducive to the formation of aboveground dry matter production and final yield. The root distribution was greatest in the 0–60 cm soil depth, accounting for 95.13–97.84% of the total root length. After the heading stage occurs, the upper roots begin to decline in large quantities. Thus, the jointing stage and heading stage require fertilization and other farmland management operations to increase root nutrients for the ground parts and dry matter accumulation to provide sufficient nutrients so that the number of effective panicles, grain weight, and the number of spike grains coordinate to achieve the highest grain yield. Results showed that the highest yield can be achieved with the planting pattern X2M1. A comprehensive analysis showed that the genetic characteristics of winter wheat varieties were different, and there were some differences in the correlation between wheat yield and root system at the different growth stages. The correlation between the root parameters and yield of multi-spike winter wheat during the overwintering-jointing stage was obvious. For large-spike type winter wheat in the jointing stage, the yield correlation is most obvious. Full article

The evaluation of leaf area provides valuable information for decision-making for the cassava yield trail. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the relationship between the leaf area and yield of the segregating populations and (2) to investigate the suitable mathematical model for calculating cassava leaf area. The single-row trial for 60 segregating progenies of Kasetsart 50 × CMR38–125–77 was conducted from 2021 to 2022. The trial for eighteen progenies and the Kasetsart 50 and CMR38–125–77 was carried out in 2022. The sampled leaves for each genotype were collected to measure the leaf area. The length (L) and width of the central lobe (W), number of lobes (N), the product of the length and width (L × W; K), and the product of the length and number of lobes (L × N; J) were recorded for developing the mathematical models. The result showed that there were statistically significant correlations between the maximum individual leaf area and the total crop fresh weight and storage root fresh weight. The mathematical model LA = −3.39L + 2.04K + 1.01J − 15.10 is appropriate to estimate the maximum individual leaf area and leaf area index (LAI). This mathematical model also provided the estimated individual maximum leaf area that had the highest correlation with actual biomass at the final harvest as compared to the other three functions. The results showed statistical significance for the estimated LAI and biomass correlation. Full article

The use of environmentally safe products of natural origin is a global trend today. A particular point of interest is the use of humic fertilizers. This is due to the growing awareness of the positive impact of humic substances on plant growth and development as well as on the quality of agricultural products and soil fertility. Humates are physiologically active substances. As a result, they regulate and intensify metabolic processes in plants and soil, and contribute to the bioavailability of nutrients to plants. EldORost is a new-generation humic product that contains humic substances with a high humification degree. In addition to humates, this product contains a complex of amino acids, macro-, and microelements in a bioavailable form for plants. The product is eco-friendly and completely soluble in water, which is a substantial advantage for drip irrigation systems. It can be used for all types of agricultural crops on a wide diversity of soils and climatic zones. It displays the properties of plant hormones while its optimum concentration is as low as 0.0001% (wt). The efficiency of this novel humic product was tested in laboratory and field tests conducted on potatoes and vegetable crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, onions, beets). The obtained results showed high efficiency displayed in the significantly improved sowing quality of vegetable seeds, nominally increased the germination degree and seed germination energy, intensively stimulated the side root development in plants, accelerated the growth of biomass, increased the fruiting period, and reduced maturation on the yield of potatoes and vegetable crops. The obtained data allowed us to characterize this novel humic product from the perspective of an eco-friendly fertilizer and growth promoter. Full article

Heat shock treatment (HST) and UV-B irradiation can reduce pathogen infection in crops. However, information on the mechanism of UV-B action is limited. Here, we investigated the mechanism of UV-B-induced resistance against powdery mildew in cucumber and compared it to that of heat-shock-induced resistance. We measured the percentage of leaf area showing disease symptoms and examined the expression levels of defense- and heat-shock-related genes across treatment groups. UV-B irradiation (intensity, 5 µW/cm²) for 4 h/d followed by pathogen inoculation reduced the appearance of powdery mildew by 21.17% compared with the control group. Unlike HST—which induces systemic resistance—UV-B irradiation induced local resistance in cucumber, as indicated by local changes in gene expression (Chi2 and ETR2). UV-B-treated plants inoculated with powdery mildew showed higher expression levels of Chi2, ETR2, and LOX6 than plants that were either treated with UV-B or inoculated. UV-B had no major effects on systemic acquired resistance or heat shock transcription factors, which are known to be affected by HST. Combined HST and UV-B had a strong synergistic effect in reducing powdery mildew in cucumber. Our results indicate that UV-B treatment likely operates through a different mechanism than HST in triggering cucumber resistance against powdery mildew infection. Full article

Combining optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for crop mapping has become a crucial way to improve classification accuracy, especially in cloudy and rainy areas. However, the acquisition of optical images is significantly unstable due to the influence of cloudy and rainy weather, which seriously restricts the application of this method in practice. To solve this problem, this study proposed an optical-SAR imagery-based rice mapping method which has the advantages of less dependence on optical images, easy operation and high classification accuracy. To account for the trait of sparse availability of optical images, this method only needs one clear sky optical image in the rice growth period and combined it with multi-temporal SAR images to achieve a high accuracy rice mapping result. Meanwhile, this paper also proposed a comprehensively multi-scale segmentation parameter optimization algorithm, which considers the area consistency, shape error and location difference between the segmented object and reference object, and adopts an orthogonal experiment approach. Based on the optical image, the boundaries of the parcel objects can be segmented, which were subsequently used to perform the object-oriented classification. The results show that the overall accuracy of the proposed method in Yangzhou City is 94.64%. Moreover, according to a random pick test, it is encouraging that the proposed method has strong robustness in response to the instability of the acquisition time of SAR images. A relatively high overall accuracy of 90.09% suggested that the proposed method can provide a reliable rice mapping result in cloudy and rainy areas. Full article

Global production, consumption and emission of various chemicals continue to rise, despite growing evidence of their harmful effects on environmental quality, food safety and human health. Agronomy, a nature-dependent industry, is considered to be extremely sensitive to chemical pollution. Hence, it is of great importance for food safety and human health to study the migration and biotransformation of chemical pollutants among agricultural elements, such as soil, water and crops. Thus, this review focused on typical organic pollutants (TOPs) in the agro-environment, such as pesticides, antibiotics and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), firstly describing their sources and the current state. Then, we further elucidated the mechanism and influence factors of the TOP-based uptake, translocation and biotransformation of TOPs in crops, including the apoplastic and symplastic pathway, enzyme-assisted nontarget resistance and the physicochemical properties of different TOPs. In addition, future insight into the identification of detoxified genes and lower-toxic metabolism of TOPs was presented in this review, which provides valuable information for breeding agro-products with lower chemical contaminants. In a nutshell, our review discussed comprehensive research progress on TOPs’ fates and offered theoretical guidance for pollution control and ecological risk assessment in agroecosystems. Full article

Plants are a highly advanced kingdom of living organisms on the earth. They survive under all climatic and weather variabilities, including low and high temperature, rainfall, radiation, less nutrients, and high salinity. Even though they are adapted to various environmental factors, which are variable, the performance of a crop will be compensated under sub/supra optimal conditions. Hence, current and future climate change factors pose a challenge to sustainable agriculture. Photosynthesis is the primary biochemical trait of crops that are affected by abiotic stress and elevated CO₂ (eCO₂). Under eCO₂, the C₃ legumes could perform better photosynthesis over C₄ grasses. The associated elevated temperature promotes the survival of the C₄ crop (maize) over C₃ plants. In the American Ginseng, the elevated temperature promotes the accumulation of phytocompounds. Under less water availability, poor transpirational cooling, higher canopy temperatures, and oxidative stress will attenuate the stability of the membrane. Altering the membrane composition to safeguard fluidity is a major tolerance mechanism. For protection and survival under individual or multiple stresses, plants try to undergo high photorespiration and dark respiration, for instance, in wheat and peas. The redox status of plants should be maintained for ROS homeostasis and, thereby, plant survival. The production of antioxidants and secondary metabolites may keep a check on the content of oxidating molecules. Several adaptations, such as deeper rooting, epicuticular wax formation such as peas, and utilization of non-structural carbohydrates, i.e., wheat, help in survival. In addition to yield, quality is a major attribute abridged or augmented by climate change. The nutrient content of cereals, pulses, and vegetables is reduced by eCO₂; in aniseed and Valeriana sp., the essential oil content is increased. Thus, climate change has perplexing effects in a species-dependent manner, posing hurdles in sustainable crop production. The review covers various scientific issues interlinked with challenges of food/nutritional security and the resilience of plants to climate variability. This article also glimpses through the research gaps present in the studies about the physiological effects of climate change on various crops. Full article

Greenhouse and aquaponic productions of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) are well established, but the comparison between these two methods is not studied in detail. A study was conducted to evaluate the performance of basil in both aquaponic and soil systems under greenhouse conditions. The plants were raised in aquaponic beds with ornamental fish and a set of plants was raised in soil pots under a greenhouse setup. The studied parameters were morphological, biochemical and antioxidant levels. In order to analyze the stress effects of an aquaponic system on plant defense mechanism, two different antioxidant enzymes (catalase and peroxidase) were analyzed. Water quality parameters were monitored during the entire study period. Based on the results, there was a significant increase in growth parameters in the aquaponic system when compared to the conventional greenhouse cultivation of basil plants. The photosynthetic parameters showed a decline in the aquaponic system, but the biochemical parameters showed an enhancement in the aquaponic system of growing basil plants. The antioxidants exhibited a significant increase in the aquaponic system, which suggests a water stress effect on the plants induced by the aquaponic growing system. From the results of this study, it can be concluded that the aquaponic system is the best suitable method for basil production in the UAE condition. Full article

Soil salinization is an important factor contributing to the deterioration of soil environment and low crop yield in arable land. In this study, the effects of five fulvic acid applications (0 (CK), 150 (T1), 300 (T2), 450 (T3), and 600 (T4) kg·ha⁻¹) on soil physicochemical properties, humus content of each component, and cotton (Xinluzao No. 82) growth were investigated. It was confirmed that fulvic acid improved soil water-stable macroaggregates, moisture distribution, and desalinization. 0–20 cm soil relative desalinization rate was significantly increased by 2–11.75%. The pH value decreased by 0.09–0.21. The soil organic matter content was significantly increased compared to CK (p < 0.05), with 7.5–26.93% increase in organic matter content in 0–20 cm soil layer. Soil humification was increased to different degrees, with the most significant increase in humic carbon content in T3 treatment (p < 0.05). There was a significant increase in leaf area index (LAI), stem diameter, and plant height of cotton (p < 0.05). Cotton yield increased by 3.64–8.36% compared to CK (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis showed that cotton yield was significantly correlated with the soil textures of saline soils. The best improvement was achieved with 450 kg·ha⁻¹ fulvic acid. The results of this study can provide a theoretical basis for the improvement of saline soils in arid zones to enhance crop growth and yield. Full article

Although there are many new types of environmentally friendly fertilizers that can improve maize yield, chemical fertilizers are the most widespread type of fertilizer used in the agricultural sector of China due to their low cost and ease of application. However, the misuse of chemical fertilizers could lead to environmental problems, such as the massive emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Therefore, it is important to determine how fertilizer-use efficiency (FUE) could be improved to stabilize or increase maize yield while reducing GHG emissions. In this study, we collected 6618 date records which include three datasets (for N, P, and K) from five maize-growing regions in China from 2005 to 2018, and performed a meta-analysis on the effects of N, K, and P fertilization levels on maize yield, partial factor productivity (PFP), agronomic efficiency (AE), and the carbon footprint of maize production. Additionally, scenario analyses were performed to estimate optimal fertilizer application rates for stabilizing or increasing maize yield while reducing GHG emissions. It was shown that FUE and maize yield responses to fertilization level varied in different regions. Compared to the past, the maize production of China has improved significantly in terms of FUE and its carbon footprint in recent years. Because of improvements in maize cultivars and cultivation technologies, it is possible to decrease N, P, and K application rates and reduce per unit area carbon footprint of maize, without compromising yield. In the future, N fertilization should be reduced by 10% from current levels, and the application of P and K fertilizers should be increased or decreased depending on the conditions of each maize-growing region. Thus, it should be possible to stabilize or even increase yields and reduce GHG emissions of maize production, thereby achieving green and efficient development. Full article