Special Issue "Crop Diversification for Soil, Nutritional, Economic and Environmental Security"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ram Swaroop Meena
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Guest Editor
Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India
Interests: soil health restoration and policies; carbon sequestration and stabilization; resources use efficiency; climate change; crop; productivity; sustainability
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Dr. Manoj Kumar Jhariya
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Guest Editor
Department of Farm Forestry, Sant Gahira Guru Vishwavidyalaya (Formerly, Sarguja University), Sarguja, Ambikapur 497001, India
Interests: forestry; ecology; agroforestry; biodiversity assessment; climate change
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Dr. Sandeep Kumar
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur 208024, India
Interests: agronomy; resource conservation technology; enhancing input use efficiency and productivity of pulse production systems
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Gulab Singh Yadav
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Interests: agronomy; natural resource management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Intensive agriculture has been ongoing since the 1960s, following the Green Revolution (GR), the outcome of which is a steep decline in both applied input use efficiency (IUE) and system productivity. As part of the GR, the intensive use of fertilizers, irrigation water, herbicides, etc., has helped in boosting crop production. By contrast, during that period, the overexploitation of natural resources (NRs) has also increased while nutrient use efficiency (NUE) has steadily decreased. Despite high amounts of input application, crops yields are continuing to decline and are reaching a critical level, due to declining system productivity and resource use efficiency (RUE) in addition to intensive land cultivation, lack of alternate cropping systems, injudicious use of inputs, losses in the SOC pool, low application of organic manures (OM), and continuous avoidance of biofertilizers, and traditional methods of planting are suffering from enhanced terminal heat at the time of maturity. Hence, there is an urgent need to select a crop suitable for diversification in intensive agriculture in the developing world and with a low input response for better productivity. Diversification of the system with suitable crops may serve as a beneficial tool for maintaining soil health and increasing crop and soil productivity, RUE, and farmer income by decreasing the cost of cultivation. Thus, the diversification of crops can be a novel option to enhance the IUE, manage degraded soil, and improve system productivity for food, nutritional, economic, and environmental security. Continuous and long-term intensive nutrient mining from the soil leads to cultivated land degradation, while intensive application of chemical fertilizers also leads to soil degradation as a result of salt accumulation in the rhizosphere. Applications of organic amendment with chemical fertilizers can enhance the labile microbial biomass and nutrient availability, improving soil properties. Soil microorganisms (SMOs), often referred to as a “biological engine of the earth”, are a very important part of the soil ecosystem and help in maintaining soil quality.

Dr. Ram Swaroop Meena
Dr. Manoj Kumar Jhariya
Dr. Sandeep Kumar
Dr. Gulab Singh Yadav
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • crop diversification
  • traditional cropping systems
  • crop diversification and sustainability
  • soil health management
  • system productivity
  • nutrient dynamic
  • best management practices
  • energy and input use efficiency
  • greenhouse gasses emission
  • precision farming
  • redesign the agriculture policies for traditional cropping systems

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Rhizobacteria Inoculation and Caffeic Acid Alleviated Drought Stress in Lentil Plants
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9603; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179603 (registering DOI) - 26 Aug 2021
Viewed by 205
Abstract
Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) is an important component of the human diet due to its high mineral and protein contents. Abiotic stresses, i.e., drought, decreases plant growth and yield. Drought causes the synthesis of reactive oxygen species, which decrease a plant’s starch [...] Read more.
Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) is an important component of the human diet due to its high mineral and protein contents. Abiotic stresses, i.e., drought, decreases plant growth and yield. Drought causes the synthesis of reactive oxygen species, which decrease a plant’s starch contents and growth. However, ACC-deaminase (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase) producing rhizobacteria can alleviate drought stress by decreasing ethylene levels. On the other hand, caffeic acid (CA) can also positively affect cell expansion and turgor pressure maintenance under drought stress. Therefore, the current study was planned with an aim to assess the effect of CA (0, 20, 50 and 100 ppm) and ACC-deaminase rhizobacteria (Lysinibacillus fusiform, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) on lentils under drought stress. The combined application of CA and ACC-deaminase containing rhizobacteria significantly improved plant height (55%), number of pods per plant (51%), 1000-grain weight (45%), nitrogen concentration (56%), phosphorus concentration (19%), potassium concentration (21%), chlorophyll (54%), relative water contents RWC (60%) and protein contents (55%). A significant decrease in electrolyte leakage (30%), proline contents (44%), and hydrogen peroxide contents (54%), along with an improvement in cell membrane stability (34% over control) validated the combined use of CA and rhizobacteria. In conclusion, co-application of CA (20 ppm) and ACC-deaminase producing rhizobacteria can significantly improve plant growth and yield for farmers under drought stress. More investigations are suggested at the field level to select the best rhizobacteria and CA level for lentils under drought. Full article
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