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Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Cropping Systems

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 19066

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Karolina Ratajczak

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Guest Editor

Department of Agronomy, Poznań University of Life Sciences, 60-632 Poznań, Poland
Interests: sustainable agriculture; protein crops; nitrogen fixation; microorganism and plants; crop production; crop biodiversity

Dr. Grażyna Szymańska

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Guest Editor

Department of Agronomy, Poznań University of Life Sciences, 60-632 Poznań, Poland
Interests: sustainable agriculture and crop production; agricultural cropping systems; crop protection; sustainability fertilization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The challenge for modern agriculture is to reduce the risk of weather, which is growing due to climate change, and at the same time resigning many current agricultural practices which lead to negative side-effects. In this respect, tillage systems can play a key role as one of the most important technological advances for sustainable agriculture in recent decades. Currently, low-intensity tillage systems are known as the most appropriate to limit the effects of drought. Despite economic and environmental benefits from such systems, their adoption in many countries still remain low. Soil compaction, residue management, germination problems, weed and pest incidence, and as a result, lower crop yields compared to conventional tillage are the main reason for this. Nevertheless, the adaptation of agriculture to changing climatic conditions will require the implementation of sustainable tillage, which can protect soils from biological degradation and maintain the soil quality, as well as retain most of the rainfall water in the zone where plants can use it. In addition, crop rotations, despite the recommendations, have become very poor, and their sustainability is often questioned. Therefore, mitigation measures and new production methods are sought after, which will allow adapting crops to changing conditions and temperature fluctuations and precipitation on the farm level in a sustainable way. In the conditions of a changing climate, the assessment of the suitability of the agricultural crops and used production technologies are some of the major currents of research. In this Special Issue of Sustainability, we would like to provide up-to-date information regarding the most recent and important findings related to sustainability in the cropping system using niche, novel crops or rediscovered legumes. We welcome both original research and review articles focused on the current impact of cropping systems involving no tillage on soil, microorganism and plant interactions, and crop yields. Papers regarding introducing new plant species (e.g., herbs and legume plants) in cropping systems to maintain biodiversity in modern agriculture are also welcome as valuable contributions to this Special Issue.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Karolina Ratajczak
Dr. Grażyna Szymańska
Guest Editors

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Keywords

sustainable agriculture
low-intensity tillage systems
biodiversity in modern agriculture
limitation of the effects of drought
residue management
cover crops
changing climatic conditions
sustainable crop rotation
microorganisms
soil

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

17 pages, 1183 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Perennial Forage Systems Enhance Ecosystem Quality Variables Compared with Annual Forage Systems

by Ogechukwu Igboke, Elisandra S. O. Bortolon, Amanda J. Ashworth, Joel Tallaksen, Valentin D. Picasso and Marisol T. Berti

Sustainability 2024, 16(23), 10160; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310160 - 21 Nov 2024

Viewed by 1200

Abstract

There is an intense argument about the environmental impact of annual vs. perennial forage production systems. In this study, a systematic review was employed to obtain 47 empirical studies from 13 published papers between the years 2017–2023 to help clarify the issue. The objective of this study was to determine how perennial and annual forage (business-as-usual, BAU) production systems affect dry matter yield (DM) and energy of production including specific environmental impact variables. Impact variables were classified into three main groups: human health, ecosystem quality, and resource consumption. Net energy of lactation (NEL) was considered as a functional unit. Overall, perennial forage production systems varied less in DM yield and energy production than annual monocrop systems, indicating stability in perennial production. There was no statistically significant difference in human health and resource consumption variables between perennial and annual forage production systems, except for ozone layer depletion potential. However, perennial forage systems significantly lowered variables within the ecosystem quality category. Ecotoxicity potential decreased by two and 18 times compared with BAU—control (only annual monoculture forages), and BAU—improved (any annual cropping system other than BAU—control), respectively. Perennial forage systems showed a significant effect size of −8.16, which was slightly less than the effect size of the BAU—improved system but two times less than BAU—control in terms of terrestrial acidification potential. While BAU—control showed an insignificant effect size in relation to eutrophication potential (EUP), perennial forage systems reduced EUP by approximately five and two times compared with BAU—control and BAU—improved, respectively. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of promoting perennial forage production system to foster resilience and stability in DM yield and energy production, with improvements in environmental human health (ozone layer depletion potential) and ecosystem quality variables. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Cropping Systems)

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14 pages, 1220 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Determination of Nitrogen Fixed by Soybean and Its Uptake by Winter Wheat as Aftercrops Within Sustainable Agricultural Systems

by Karolina Ratajczak, Marcin Becher, Stanisław Kalembasa, Agnieszka Faligowska, Dorota Kalembasa, Barbara Symanowicz, Katarzyna Panasiewicz, Grażyna Szymańska and Hanna Sulewska

Sustainability 2024, 16(23), 10153; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310153 - 21 Nov 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1262

Abstract

The future of agricultural production involves sustainable production systems with a balance between nutrients in soil–plant systems. These production systems are based on limiting the use of mineral fertilizers while introducing natural sources that increase soil fertility. The best example of such a system is plant rotation, including legumes as a forecrop for cereal plants. For this reason, the goal of the present study was to determine the possibility of obtaining nitrogen from the air using ¹⁵N isotopes and to determine the quantity of nitrogen biologically fixed and taken up by winter wheat cultivated as a succeeding plant. In field experiments, we investigated the cycle of nitrogen fixed by legume plants in rotation under sustainable conditions, as follows: soybean–winter wheat–winter wheat. After soybean seedling emergence, a mineral fertilizer (¹⁵NH₄)₂SO₄ containing 20.1 at% ¹⁵N (a dose of 30 kg∙ha⁻¹) was applied, with summer wheat as a reference plant. The yield of soybean reached 2.48 t∙ha⁻¹ for seeds and 8.73 t∙ha⁻¹ for crop residue (CR), providing a total yield of 11.21 t∙ha⁻¹. The total biomass of soybean contained 149.1 kg∙ha⁻¹ of total nitrogen, with 108.1 kg∙ha⁻¹ in the seeds and 41.0 kg∙ha⁻¹ in the residue, of which 34.0 kg∙ha⁻¹ in the seeds and 11.4 kg∙ha⁻¹ in the residue was biologically fixed. CR was ploughed into the soil. Plots with winter wheat cultivated after soybean (2017) were divided into two sub-plots for the application of 0 and 100 kg∙ha⁻¹ of mineral N. The scheme was repeated in 2018. Overall, winter wheat cultivated for two subsequent years took up 8.12 kg∙ha⁻¹ of the total nitrogen from the CR from the control sub-plot and 15.51 kg∙ha⁻¹ from the fertilized sub-plot, of which 2.61 and 2.98 kg∙ha⁻¹ was biologically fixed by soybean plants, respectively. The dose of fertilizer contained 5.920 kg∙ha⁻¹ of ¹⁵N, of which 3.024 kg∙ha⁻¹ was accumulated in soybean. In wheat cultivated as the first subsequent crop, the accumulation of ¹⁵N was as follows: 0 kg N (control)—0.088 kg∙ha⁻¹; 100 kg N—0.158 kg∙ha⁻¹. Meanwhile, in winter wheat cultivated as the second aftercrop, 0.052 and 0.163 kg∙ha⁻¹ of ¹⁵N was accumulated, respectively. This study demonstrates that biological nitrogen fixation in soybeans is an underappreciated solution for enhancing crop productivity within sustainable agricultural systems. It holds significant implications for planning rational fertilizer management, reducing the application of chemical fertilizers, and improving nitrogen use efficiency within crop rotation systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Cropping Systems)

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13 pages, 1707 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Flower Strips as an Ecological Tool to Strengthen the Environmental Balance of Fields: Case Study of a National Park Zone in Western Poland

by Małgorzata Antkowiak, Jolanta Kowalska and Paweł Trzciński

Sustainability 2024, 16(3), 1251; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16031251 - 1 Feb 2024

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2404

Abstract

Maintaining biodiversity in agrocenoses is becoming an important element of sustainable development strategies. Flower strips can perform various functions, and their use in the agricultural landscape is a form of a natural mechanism for regulating the agricultural habitat and improving the effectiveness of biological methods of combating crop pests. This manuscript is a case study in Wielkopolska National Park, a valuable wildlife area situated in a temperate zone characteristic of the climate conditions of western Poland. The purpose of this study was to analyze the species composition of plants in a flower strip two years after sowing a mixture of seeds of perennial plants, and to determine the diversity of the collected arthropods depending on the flowering intensity of plants in the strip. The most intense flowering period in the flower strip occurred in June, when the number of flowering plants was the highest and belonged to one species, Trifolium repens (81.52% of all flowering plants). In the same month, the largest share of beneficial arthropods were specimens from Hymenoptera/Parasitica (29.15%), which may indicate their preference for T. repens. The share of beneficial arthropods in relation to all caught arthropods was higher in June (58.74%) than in July (35.16%), with Hymenoptera predominating, represented mainly by Parasitica, which may indicate their preference for species from the genus Trifolium. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Cropping Systems)

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12 pages, 419 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Tillage Intensity on the Development of Faba Bean Cultivation

by Rasa Kimbirauskienė, Aušra Sinkevičienė, Rokas Jonaitis and Kęstutis Romaneckas

Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 8956; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118956 - 1 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1498

Abstract

At the time of tillage, the properties of the soil change, thereby changing the conditions of crop development and, ultimately, their productivity and quality. The effect of non-inversion tillage or no-till on faba bean development is still not widely understood. For this reason, on the basis of a long-term experiment (since 1988), investigations of tillage systems using deep and shallow ploughing, chiselling, disking and no-till were undertaken at Vytautas Magnus University, Agriculture Academy, Lithuania, in 2016–2019. The aim of this study was to highlight the interaction between tillage methods and crop vegetative conditions, and its effect on faba bean development parameters. Soil chiselling generally led to better faba bean canopy development rates than other treatments. Faba bean roots developed somewhat better in non-tilled plots. Different tillage methods had less impact on faba bean development than vegetative conditions during the growing seasons. This shows that, due to rapid climate change, the conditions of each vegetative season are unique, which may lead to significant changes in crop development parameters. In addition, in this case, agrotechnologies must be precisely used, such as the use of varieties resistant to abiotic stresses, as well as technical and technological approaches. The complex effects of these agrotechnological elements should be investigated in more detail. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Cropping Systems)

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20 pages, 3698 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Soilless Cultivation Mode: Cultivation Study on Droplet Settlement of Plant Roots under Ultrasonic Aeroponic Cultivation

by Xiwen Yang, Yahui Luo and Ping Jiang

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 13705; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142113705 - 22 Oct 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2604

Abstract

In order to solve the effects of environmental factors on the droplet settlement of a nutrient solution on plant roots when planting plants with ultrasonic aeroponic cultivation, this study aimed to obtain a suitable wind speed range and atomization time through a nutrient solution atomization experiment, to obtain the best control scheme through a multi-environmental parameter combination cultivation experiment. Taking an ultrasonic aeroponic cultivation device as the research object, and lettuce as the test material, experiments were carried out on two factors affecting the wind speed of an axial fan and the atomization time of the nutrient amount of ultrasonic aeroponic cultivation plants; the suitable wind speed range was 1.0–2.5 m/s. The temperatures of the lettuce root zones in the upper, middle, and lower layers of the ultrasonic aeroponic cultivation device at different time periods were obtained by atomizing the nutrient solution. When the optimum temperature for the root growth of lettuce was 15–20 °C and the wind speed was 1.0–2.5 m/s, the continuous atomization time of the nutrient solution was 66–184 min. Using a quadratic orthogonal rotation combination design method, three main factors, namely wind speed, ambient temperature, and atomization time, were selected to test droplet settlement in the lettuce roots. The droplet settlement in the lettuce root system was measured. The droplet settlement regression equation in the lettuce root system was established. The reliability of the regression model was tested according to the significance condition, and a simplified quadratic orthogonal regression equation was obtained. The main effect analysis, single factor analysis, and interaction effect analysis were used to analyze the model, and the model was further verified. The verification results showed that the relative error between the predicted value and the actual value of the average root droplet sedimentation was 5.8%. The optimum wind speed was 2.5 m/s, the ambient temperature was 16 °C, and the atomization time was 184 min when the ultrasonic aeroponic cultivation device designed in this study was used to cultivate lettuce. It could provide a theoretical reference and an experimental basis for the control of the related growth environment parameters of plants cultivated using ultrasonic aeroponic cultivation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Cropping Systems)

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Review

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22 pages, 2947 KiB

Open AccessReview

Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Adoption Trends, Impacts, and Challenges Among Smallholder Farmers

by Ally Sithole and Oluwasogo David Olorunfemi

Sustainability 2024, 16(22), 9766; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16229766 - 8 Nov 2024

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 8656

Abstract

Sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) remain the panacea to addressing challenges relating to climate change, low rainfall, and low agricultural productivity in many rural parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These practices include but are not limited to crop rotation, intercropping, cover cropping, and conservation tillage. The aforementioned practices have been scientifically proven to enhance crop productivity while safeguarding environmental resources. This review assesses the trends, effectiveness, and challenges associated with the adoption and utilization of SAPs among smallholder farmers in the SSA region, analyzing the literature and reports from 2000 to 2024 sourced from databases such as Google Scholar and Scopus. The inclusion criteria focused on key concepts such as SAPs, adoption, and challenges. Findings indicate that crop rotation, intercropping, improved seed varieties, manure, and mulching are among the most adopted practices. In reality, practices such as conservation tillage, agroforestry, and water harvesting systems remain the least adopted practices in many rural parts of SSA. The review further reveals that challenges relating to land tenure insecurity, lack of knowledge, training, and limited access to financial institutions all have a direct or indirect influence on farmers’ choice of adoption. Overcoming the aforementioned challenges through policy interventions and capacity building is vital for improved crop productivity and rural livelihoods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessment of Agricultural Cropping Systems)

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