Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate
Agriculture is facing the complex challenge of satisfying increasing food demands, despite the current and projected negative impacts of climate change on yields. Increasing crop diversity at a national scale has been suggested as an adaptive measure to better cope with negative climate impacts such...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc651 |
| _version_ | 1797747637132197888 |
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| author | Lorenzo Marini Audrey St-Martin Giulia Vico Guido Baldoni Antonio Berti Andrzej Blecharczyk Irena Malecka-Jankowiak Francesco Morari Zuzanna Sawinska Riccardo Bommarco |
| author_facet | Lorenzo Marini Audrey St-Martin Giulia Vico Guido Baldoni Antonio Berti Andrzej Blecharczyk Irena Malecka-Jankowiak Francesco Morari Zuzanna Sawinska Riccardo Bommarco |
| author_sort | Lorenzo Marini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Agriculture is facing the complex challenge of satisfying increasing food demands, despite the current and projected negative impacts of climate change on yields. Increasing crop diversity at a national scale has been suggested as an adaptive measure to better cope with negative climate impacts such as increasing temperatures and drought, but there is little evidence to support this hypothesis at the field scale. Using seven long-term experiments across a wide latitudinal gradient in Europe, we showed that growing multiple crop species in a rotation always provided higher yields for both winter and spring cereals (average +860 and +390 kg ha ^−1 per year, respectively) compared with a continuous monoculture. In particular, yield gains in diverse rotations were higher in years with high temperatures and scant precipitations, i.e. conditions expected to become more frequent in the future, rendering up to c. 1000 kg ha ^−1 per year compared to monocultures. Winter cereals yielded more in diverse rotations immediately after initiation of the experiment and kept this advantage constant over time. For spring cereals, the yield gain increased over time since diversification adoption, arriving to a yearly surplus of c. 500 kg ha ^−1 after 50–60 years with still no sign of plateauing. Diversified rotations emerge as a promising way to adapt temperate cropping systems and contribute to food security under a changing climate. However, novel policies need to be implemented and investments made to give means and opportunities for farmers to adopt diversified crop rotations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0a791935063442fb858bd8e15cb2dcd1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:54:23Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-0a791935063442fb858bd8e15cb2dcd12023-08-09T14:59:39ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262020-01-01151212401110.1088/1748-9326/abc651Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climateLorenzo Marini0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7429-7685Audrey St-Martin1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4957-1803Giulia Vico2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7849-2653Guido Baldoni3Antonio Berti4Andrzej Blecharczyk5Irena Malecka-Jankowiak6Francesco Morari7Zuzanna Sawinska8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7030-3221Riccardo Bommarco9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8888-0476University of Padova, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment, Viale dell’Università 16 , 35020 Padova, ItalySwedish University of Agricultural Sciences , Department of Ecology, Ulls väg 16, SE-750 07 Uppsala, SwedenSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences , Department of Crop Production Ecology, Ulls väg 16, SE-750 07 Uppsala, SwedenUniversity of Bologna , Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Viale Fanin 44, 40127 Bologna, ItalyUniversity of Padova, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment, Viale dell’Università 16 , 35020 Padova, ItalyPoznań University of Life Sciences , Department of Agronomy, Dojazd 11, 60-632 Poznań, PolandPoznań University of Life Sciences , Department of Agronomy, Dojazd 11, 60-632 Poznań, PolandUniversity of Padova, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment, Viale dell’Università 16 , 35020 Padova, ItalyPoznań University of Life Sciences , Department of Agronomy, Dojazd 11, 60-632 Poznań, PolandSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences , Department of Ecology, Ulls väg 16, SE-750 07 Uppsala, SwedenAgriculture is facing the complex challenge of satisfying increasing food demands, despite the current and projected negative impacts of climate change on yields. Increasing crop diversity at a national scale has been suggested as an adaptive measure to better cope with negative climate impacts such as increasing temperatures and drought, but there is little evidence to support this hypothesis at the field scale. Using seven long-term experiments across a wide latitudinal gradient in Europe, we showed that growing multiple crop species in a rotation always provided higher yields for both winter and spring cereals (average +860 and +390 kg ha ^−1 per year, respectively) compared with a continuous monoculture. In particular, yield gains in diverse rotations were higher in years with high temperatures and scant precipitations, i.e. conditions expected to become more frequent in the future, rendering up to c. 1000 kg ha ^−1 per year compared to monocultures. Winter cereals yielded more in diverse rotations immediately after initiation of the experiment and kept this advantage constant over time. For spring cereals, the yield gain increased over time since diversification adoption, arriving to a yearly surplus of c. 500 kg ha ^−1 after 50–60 years with still no sign of plateauing. Diversified rotations emerge as a promising way to adapt temperate cropping systems and contribute to food security under a changing climate. However, novel policies need to be implemented and investments made to give means and opportunities for farmers to adopt diversified crop rotations.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc651barleybreak cropsdiversificationdroughttemperature warmingwheat |
| spellingShingle | Lorenzo Marini Audrey St-Martin Giulia Vico Guido Baldoni Antonio Berti Andrzej Blecharczyk Irena Malecka-Jankowiak Francesco Morari Zuzanna Sawinska Riccardo Bommarco Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate Environmental Research Letters barley break crops diversification drought temperature warming wheat |
| title | Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate |
| title_full | Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate |
| title_fullStr | Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate |
| title_full_unstemmed | Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate |
| title_short | Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate |
| title_sort | crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate |
| topic | barley break crops diversification drought temperature warming wheat |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc651 |
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