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The above‐ground community dynamics of weeds represent the soil weed seedbank in an agro‐ecosystem. Hence, understanding the seedbank will offer an idea for future weed management tactics. We aimed to determine the density of weed seedbank and emergence of major weeds in direct seeded rice (DSR) (Oryza sativa L.)—mustard (Brassica campestris L. var. yellow sarson) cropping sequence under varied tillage and herbicide combinations. The present study on weed seedbank was conducted using seedling emergence method after collecting the soils at the harvest of mustard at the completion of 2 years field experimentation. The experiment was conducted in split‐plot design with two tillage practices [zero tillage (ZT) and conventional tillage (CT)] in main plot and eight weed management practices in DSR [oxadiargyl followed by (fb) bispyribac‐sodium, penoxsulam + cyhalofop‐butyl, oxadiargyl fb penoxsulam + cyhalofop‐butyl, fenoxaprop‐p‐ethyl + ethoxysulfuron, oxadiargyl fb fenoxaprop‐p‐ethyl + ethoxysulfuron, pendimethalin fb bispyribac‐sodium, unweeded control, and weed free check] as subplot. The carry‐over effect of tillage and weed management practices were recorded in mustard crop. Seed emergence study revealed that ZT reduced the emergence of grassy weeds (by 13.7%) and total weed emergence (19.5%) in comparison to the CT (p < 0.05). However, emergence of broadleaf weeds was 24.5% higher in ZT than in CT. The higher infestation was recorded for Ludwigia parviflora (Jacq.) Raven under penoxsulam + cyhalofop‐butyl, fenoxaprop‐p‐ethyl + ethoxysulfuron, Cyperus iria (L.) under fenoxaprop‐p‐ethyl + ethoxysulfuron, and Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. under pendimethalin fb bispyribac‐sodium, oxadiargyl fb bispyribac‐sodium. Sole application of post‐emergence (POE) herbicide decreased the total weed emergence by 22.2%–28.1% than unweeded control (p < 0.05). Whereas, sequential application of PRE + POE herbicides decreased the total weed emergence by 32.8%–36.9% than unweeded control (p < 0.05). Notably, sedge weeds such as Cyperus iria (L.) and Fimbristylis miliacea (L.) Vahl were lower in ZT than in CT under herbicide treated plots (by 66.6%–84.3%) than unweeded control. Thus, ZT with oxadiargyl 90 g a.i. ha−1fb fenoxaprop‐p‐ethyl + ethoxysulfuron (90 + 15 g a.i. ha−1) as tank‐mix can be effectively used to lower the weed seedbank density vis‐à‐vis managing complex weed flora in DSR and rice‐mustard cropping sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing simplification of agricultural production systems has resulted in several negative consequences, ranging from losses in soil organic carbon and biodiversity to a high dependency on external inputs to maintain high yields. We identify how grassland leys in crop rotations may help to mitigate these effects, by conserving soil organic carbon and enhancing nutrient efficiency. In particular, grasslands containing legumes enhance these benefits by providing nitrogen, and displacement of mineral N fertilizer. In crop rotations, these grasslands may transfer some of the acquired nitrogen to arable follow‐on crops, thereby reducing the necessity for external inputs, while at the same time providing additional benefits, such as improvement of soil quality and reduction of weed pressure. However, there are still considerable knowledge gaps about how to optimize the community composition of grassland leys to best enhance the supply of these ecosystem services. Although the benefits of multi‐species grasslands for the grassland crop have been shown repeatedly and across a large gradient of environments, further research is required to determine the benefits for follow‐on crops, particularly across different environmental conditions. Here, we emphasize the importance of multi‐site research, such as in the research network LegacyNet. Finally, we present management techniques that are optimized for both ecosystem services and agronomic performance in mechanically cut and grazed systems. For the latter, we consider how the inclusion of bioactive plant species can enhance animal health and lower methane emissions in grazing ruminants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: No tillage (No-till, NT), a form of conservation agricultural management, can improve food security and alleviate world climate change by influencing crop yield and soil organic carbon (SOC), but the effects of NT on crop yields and SOC and the major factors which influence these effects remain poorly understood. Methods: We conducted a global meta-analysis using 5230 paired observations from 446 studies to evaluate the effects of NT on upland crop yield and SOC and to explore the associated influencing factors. Results: Generally, NT decreased upland crop yields by 5% (P < 0.05) and increased SOC sequestration by 9.9% (P < 0.05). Specifically, wheat and maize yields decreased by 7.7% and 2.3%, respectively. Our analyses indicate that NT combined with crop residue return and crop rotation reduced the negative effect of NT on crop yield from 5% to 2.44% and increased SOC up to 12.77%. The effects of NT on yield and SOC varied depending on the regulating factors. No-till increased yields in relatively arid areas, but reduced yields in more humid areas, whereas SOC is more likely to increase in humid regions. Soil organic carbon sequestration increased with temperature, but yield losses also increased in warmer regions. Conclusions: Our study suggests that NT combined with crop residue return and crop rotation could enhance SOC sequestration under moist and warm conditions without compromising crop yield. It may also improve soil quality and help alleviate global food security and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an integrated nematode management system, the best results are generally obtained by rotating crops with resistant plants, antagonists, or poor host of parasites. Some reports indicate that Stylosanthes spp. have the potential to control nematodes. Thus, this study aimed to assess the reaction of Stylosanthes spp. 'Campo Grande' to Pratylenchus brachyurus and Meloidogyne javanica penetration and reproduction at different inoculum levels and examine the histopathology and histochemistry of parasitized plants. Stylosanthes did not prevent P. brachyurus penetration in roots. However, the number of penetrated nematodes was lower than that in soybean from 17 days after inoculation onwards. The numbers of second-stage and third-/fourth-stage juveniles of M. javanica in Stylosanthes roots were close to zero, and no females were observed. Assays conducted using increasing levels of inoculum (P. brachyurus or M. javanica) showed that Stylosanthes was resistant to the parasites, with a maximum reproduction factor of 0.59 for P. brachyurus and 0.07 for M. javanica. Histopathological analysis showed the presence of P. brachyurus in Stylosanthes, but without rupture of plant cells. M. javanica individuals were not observed. Histochemistry revealed the presence of phenolic compounds in the epidermis of Stylosanthes and proteins in plant cells. These results show that Stylosanthes spp. 'Campo Grande' can be used in crop rotation programs in fields with mixed infestation of P. brachyurus and M. javanica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural practices shape arthropod communities in arable fields, consequently influencing their interactions and the resulting ecosystem services, in particular pest regulation. Predatory arthropods play a pivotal role by preying on herbivores, soil fauna, and on other predators. However, the intricate mechanisms through which agricultural practices shape the dietary preferences of predators, and regulate herbivore populations remain complex and inadequately understood. We assessed how fertilisation with organic fertiliser and extending crop rotations with perennial ley affected predation pressure across prey taxa. We mapped predator and prey trophic linkages with molecular analysis of carabid predator gut contents, and measured densities and taxonomic richness of predators, herbivores, and soil fauna in 19 cereal fields during three samplings across the growing season. We derived two food web structure metrics: prey vulnerability that is the average number of predators feeding on a selected prey, and predator trophic redundancy, that is dietary overlap. Prey vulnerability was compared among soil fauna, herbivores, and other predator species (that is interspecific intraguild predation) over the growing season, and across treatments. The mechanistic underpinnings of observed shifts in vulnerability of herbivorous prey at different crop stages were identified using information criteria to select among candidate variables related to the richness, density and interaction structure of the different guilds during both the current, and the previous crop stages. Agricultural diversification via organic fertilisation combined with perennial ley in the crop rotation decreased the vulnerability of both intraguild prey and soil fauna prey, and stabilised herbivore vulnerability. Mechanistically, the vulnerability of herbivorous prey at crop ripening emerges from the combination of predator richness and trophic redundancy during this sampling round, rather than from carryover effects from previous crop stages. Synthesis and applications: Our results suggest that locally provided resource continuity through diversified cropping practices bolster biological pest regulation, thus underline the importance of lesser disturbance in arable ecosystems for the provision of ecosystem services. Enhanced predator species richness together with availability of alternative prey through the season underpins this enhanced pest regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Soil microbial communities are difficult to measure and critical to soil processes. The bulk soil microbiome is highly diverse and spatially heterogeneous, which can make it difficult to detect and monitor the responses of microbial communities to differences or changes in management, such as different crop rotations in agricultural research. Sampling a subset of actively growing microbes should promote monitoring how soil microbial communities respond to management by reducing the variation contributed by high microbial spatial and temporal heterogeneity and less active microbes. We tested an in-growth bag method using sterilized soil in root-excluding mesh, "sterile sentinels," for the capacity to differentiate between crop rotations. We assessed the utility of different incubation times and compared colonized sentinels to concurrently sampled bulk soils for the statistical power to differentiate microbial community composition in low and high diversity crop rotations. We paired this method with Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencing to assess sterile sentinels as a standardized, fast turn-around monitoring method. Results: Compared to bulk soil, sentinels provided greater statistical power to distinguish between crop rotations for bacterial communities and equivalent power for fungal communities. The incubation time did not affect the statistical power to detect treatment differences in community composition, although longer incubation time increased total biomass. Bulk and sentinel soil samples contained shared and unique microbial taxa that were differentially abundant between crop rotations. Conclusions: Overall, compared to bulk soils, the sentinels captured taxa with copiotrophic or ruderal traits, and plant-associated taxa. The sentinels show promise as a sensitive, scalable method to monitor soil microbial communities and provide information complementary to traditional soil sampling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growers in the inland Pacific Northwest face numerous challenges in managing cropping systems. Climate variability, soil degradation, and topography all lead to significant spatial and temporal variability in yield. Often, yield modeling approaches such as deep learning can be "black boxes" or suffer from parameter uncertainty and instability, as with process-based crop models. To explore an alternative, we examined nearly two decades of crop rotation data from the R.J. Cook Agronomy Farm, along with soil properties, topography, weather, and multispectral data. We then tested two modeling approaches to estimate yield: linear modeling (LM) and Bayesian hierarchical modeling (BHM). We found BHM with spatial and temporal random effects performed best in predicting relative yield, both using soil variables as predictors or remotely sensed data. Since the BHM approach handles missing data, offers the possibility of farmer knowledge to be incorporated into prior probabilities, and gives uncertainty, this methodology lends itself well to decision support tools and on-farm study design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The policy regarding crop rotation is relatively new. However, this policy is still being debated, because it is not yet known that a consistent harvest rotation pattern has a significant effect on harvest premiums, FFB production and harvest employee income at PT Nusaina Agro Kobi Manise. This research aims to analyze the effect of 12/14 day harvest rotation and harvest premiums on FFB production and harvest employee income. This research uses quantitative descriptive methods. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS 3.0 Software. The results of the research show the effect of implementing 12/14 day harvest rotation and harvest premiums on FFB production and harvest employee income. It is clear that implementing 12/14 day harvest rotation does not have a direct influence on FFB production and harvest employee income but the implementation of 12/14 day harvest rotation days have an indirect influence through harvest premiums on production and harvest employee income. The t-calculated path coefficient value of 12.140 is greater than the t-table value of 1.96 with a p-value of 0.00 which is smaller than 0.05 so that the variable implementing 12/14 day harvest rotation has a significant effect on the harvest premium variable. The specific indirect effect value of implementing a 12/14 day harvest rotation has an effect on the harvest premium and in turn has an effect on FFB production with a calculated t-value of 2.500 which is greater than the t-table value of 1.96 and with a p-value of 0.013 which is smaller than 0.05 so can be said to have a significant effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop-specific cultivation practices including crop rotation, cover cropping, and fertilisation are key measures for sustainable farming, for which soil microorganisms are important components. This study aims at identifying links between agronomic practices, potato yield and quality as well as soil microorganisms. We analysed the roles of cover crops and of the soil prokaryotic, fungal, and protistan communities in a long-term trial, differing in crop rotation, i.e. winter wheat or silage maize as pre-crop, presence and positioning of oil radish within the rotation, and fertilisation, i.e. mineral fertiliser, straw, manure, or slurry. Up to 16% higher yields were observed when oil radish grew directly before potatoes. Losses of potato quality due to infection with Rhizoctonia solani-induced diseases and common scab was 43–63% lower when wheat + oil radish was pre-crop under manure or straw + slurry fertilisation than for maize as pre-crop. This contrast was also reflected by 42% higher fungal abundance and differences in β-diversity of prokaryotes, fungi, and protists. Those amplicon sequence variants, which were found in the treatments with highest potato qualities and differed in their abundances from other treatments, belonged to Firmicutes (2.4% of the sequences) and Mortierellaceae (28%), which both comprise potential antagonists of phytopathogens. Among protists, Lobosa, especially Copromyxa, was 62% more abundant in the high potato quality plots compared to all others, suggesting that specific higher trophic organisms can improve crop performance. Our findings suggest that successful potato cultivation is related (1) to planting of oil radish before potatoes for increasing yield and (2) to fertilisation with manure or straw + slurry for enriching the microbiome with crop-beneficial taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic monitoring of food cultivation status is important for guaranteeing food security and planning rational cultivation. Significant progress has been seen in crop classification using remote sensing data with high temporal resolution over large areas. However, improvement is needed for cultivation monitoring at the scale of small watersheds. This study combined high-temporal resolution moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data and high-spatial resolution Sentinel-2 data to identify key phenological stages of winter wheat and summer corn. MODIS data were used to construct indicators for differences in stages. Extraction thresholds for winter wheat and summer corn were determined using indicators for field sample sites. Different thresholds for key phenological stages were employed to determine the spatial distribution of these crops using Sentinel-2. The spatial distribution of winter wheat and summer corn rotation lands was generated using an overlay. User accuracies of the spatial extraction of wheat and corn rotation lands were 95%, 88.89%, and 86.96% for 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020, respectively (kappa coefficients: 74.24%, 54.47%, and 68.21%). The key phenological stage difference indicator method is suitable for crop classification and spatial extraction at the scale of small watersheds and can allow dynamic monitoring of grain crop cultivation in small-scale areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversified crop rotations have been suggested to reduce grain yield losses from the adverse climatic conditions increasingly common under climate change. Nevertheless, the potential for climate change adaptation of different crop rotational diversity (CRD) remains undetermined. We quantified how climatic conditions affect small grain and maize yields under different CRDs in 32 long‐term (10–63 years) field experiments across Europe and North America. Species‐diverse and functionally rich rotations more than compensated yield losses from anomalous warm conditions, long and warm dry spells, as well as from anomalous wet (for small grains) or dry (for maize) conditions. Adding a single functional group or crop species to monocultures counteracted yield losses from substantial changes in climatic conditions. The benefits of a further increase in CRD are comparable with those of improved climatic conditions. For instance, the maize yield benefits of adding three crop species to monocultures under detrimental climatic conditions exceeded the average yield of monocultures by up to 553 kg/ha under non‐detrimental climatic conditions. Increased crop functional richness improved yields under high temperature, irrespective of precipitation. Conversely, yield benefits peaked at between two and four crop species in the rotation, depending on climatic conditions and crop, and declined at higher species diversity. Thus, crop species diversity could be adjusted to maximize yield benefits. Diversifying rotations with functionally distinct crops is an adaptation of cropping systems to global warming and changes in precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key challenge in the management of populations is to quantify the impact of interventions in the face of environmental and phenotypic variability. However, accurate estimation of the effects of management and environment, in large‐scale ecological research is often limited by the expense of data collection, the inherent trade‐off between quality and quantity, and missing data.In this paper we develop a novel modelling framework, and demographically informed imputation scheme, to comprehensively account for the uncertainty generated by missing population, management, and herbicide resistance data. Using this framework and a large dataset (178 sites over 3 years) on the densities of a destructive arable weed (Alopecurus myosuroides) we investigate the effects of environment, management, and evolved herbicide resistance, on weed population dynamics.In this study we quantify the marginal effects of a suite of common management practices, including cropping, cultivation, and herbicide pressure, and evolved herbicide resistance, on weed population dynamics.Using this framework, we provide the first empirically backed demonstration that herbicide resistance is a key driver of population dynamics in arable weeds at regional scales. Whilst cultivation type had minimal impact on weed density, crop rotation, and earlier cultivation and drill dates consistently reduced infestation severity.Synthesis and applications: As we demonstrate that high herbicide resistance levels can produce extremely severe weed infestations, monitoring herbicide resistance is a priority for farmers across Western Europe. Furthermore, developing non‐chemical control methods is essential to control current weed populations, and prevent further resistance evolution. We recommend that planning interventions that centre on crop rotation and incorporate spring sewing and cultivation to provide the best reductions in weed densities. More generally, by directly accounting for missing data our framework permits the analysis of management practices with data that would otherwise be severely compromised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canola (Brassica napus L.) production is threatened by blackleg disease caused by Leptosphaeria maculans. Disease outcome is determined by interactions among pathogens, plants, farming practices, and environmental factors. Although the gene-for-gene interactions between the pathogen and its plant host are relatively clear, how precisely the pathogen interacts with the environment and farming practices is still poorly understood, making disease forecasting challenging for commercial farmlands. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been successful in forecasting disease risks based on environmental factors. In this study, we evaluated two AI methods and a data augmentation method to forecast disease risk using a dataset collected from 116 farmlands in Alberta in 2021 and 2022. We first assessed a machine learning model (support vector machine or SVM) and a deep-learning model (convolutional neural network or CNN) to predict blackleg severity based on five weather variables, flea beetle damage, root maggot damage, and crop-rotation variables. Both SVM and CNN predicted the disease risk with an accuracy of over 66%. The data augmentation method did not improve model performance. Flea beetle feeding and maggot damage contribute little to the model's performance, and omitting these data did not appear to affect the results. In contrast, crop rotation contributes substantially to model performance. The five weather variables contribute roughly equally to the model's performance, and removing any of the individual weather variables did not impact prediction ability for both models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In a long‐term rotation experiment (2016–2022) with different nitrogen (N) fertilizer levels in subtropical South‐India, crop yields of low N plots were unexpectedly high. We therefore hypothesized that in the absence of mineral N application, these yields are largely due to N inputs by N2 fixation in the component crops. To assess the diazotrophic N2‐fixation of lablab (Lablab purpureus L. Sweet) and possible associative N2‐fixation of finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn), a controlled experiment was conducted during the 2021 monsoon season within the above‐mentioned long‐term field study. Two approaches were used to estimate the quantity of N derived from the atmosphere (Ndfa): the dilution method using a 15N‐labeled fertilizer and the natural abundance method. Method: For the 15N dilution method irrigated maize (Zea maize L.), finger millet and lablab were labeled with two split applications of 10% 15N fertilizer (50:50 15N‐urea and 15N‐ammonium sulfate) amounting to a total of 15 kg N ha−1. Maize was selected as the non‐fixing reference plant to estimate diazotrophic N2‐fixation. The entire aboveground biomass of the labeled plants was harvested at maturity and analyzed for total DM, N concentration, and the 15N isotope ratio. Results: N2 fixation efficiency for lablab was 52%–69% depending on the calculation method, corresponding to 40–53 kg N ha−1. For finger millet, the natural abundance method resulted in an estimated N2‐fixation of 5 kg N ha−1, which was suggested by the results of the dilution method whereby the reference plant maize was only poorly labeled. Conclusion: Labeling of maize might have been diluted due to unexpected associative N2‐fixation or N‐uptake from unlabeled deep soil N pools. The data underline the importance of symbiotic N2‐fixation in crop rotation systems of South‐India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A significant impediment to the advancement of animal husbandry in India is the insufficient availability of green fodder throughout the year. The nutritive quality of forages is heavily influenced by farm-level management practices. Consequently, there is a pressing need to enhance productivity through the implementation of proper agronomic practices. The nutrient management in fodder-based cropping sequence is a key to maximize the fodder production and its quality. Methods: A field experiment was conducted using a randomized block design, consisting of twelve treatments incorporating various organic sources of nutrients. The experiment was replicated thrice during Kharif and Rabi season 2020-22 at Department of Forage Crops, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. The treatments included different proportions (100, 75, 50 and 25%) of the recommended dose of nitrogen applied through FYM, vermicompost and bio compost. Result: The experiment results of the three years study revealed that application of 50% RDN through FYM+ 50% RDN through vermicompost recorded the higher green fodder yield of 691 q/ha, dry matter yield of 130.7 q/ha and crude protein yield of 19.3 q/ha. Correlation and regression analysis also indicated that the growth and yield attributes had a positive impact on the fodder yield. Hence it can be recommended that application of FYM and vermicompost (50 and 50% RDN) found better source of organic nutrients for achieving sustainable and economical fodder yield with quality in fodder cowpea-maize cropping system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop sequence and tillage can affect the yield of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and other crops. Research was conducted from 2006 through 2022 to determine the response of peanut to previous crop sequences including corn (Zea mays L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) planted in continuous conventional tillage (e.g., disking, field cultivating, and bedding with in-row sub-soiling) or strip tillage (e.g., tilling a 45 cm section on rows spaced 91 cm apart using fluted coulters, rolling baskets, and in-row sub-soiling). In 2013, 2019, and 2022, the entire test area was planted with peanut. In 2019 and 2022, peanut was planted without or with fluopyram applied in the seed furrow at planting. Decreasing the number of years between peanut planting resulted in lower peanut yields compared with fewer years of peanut planting in the rotation sequence. Continuous conventional tillage and strip tillage resulted in similar peanut yields at one location, while the yield was lower at a second location when peanut was planted in continuous strip tillage. Fluopyram did not affect peanut yield regardless of previous crop rotation sequence, the number of years separating peanut plantings, or the tillage system. However, minor differences in the populations of plant-parasitic nematodes in soil were noted when comparing fluopyram treatment. The results from these experiments indicate that while fluopyram can reduce the populations of some plant-parasitic nematodes in soil, the magnitude of reduction does not translate into increases in peanut yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the weed species Echinochloa crus-galli, commonly known as barnyardgrass, which is a persistent threat to crop yield and quality, especially in maize (Zea mays) cultivation. It is one of the most problematic weeds in agricultural fields due to its aggressive growth, adaptability to different environmental conditions and prolific seed production. The incidence of Echinochloa crus-galli in maize fields has increased in recent years. This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics and behavior of Echinochloa crus-galli, and to suggest effective measures to control it. This research on sweetcorn was conducted from 1992 to 2019 at the Research and Education Center Gorzyń, Złotniki branch, which belongs to the Poznań University of Life Sciences. The evaluation of weed infestation was carried out in experiments focusing on chemical weed control in maize. The experiments were designed as a one-factor randomised block design with four field replications. The condition and the degree of weed infestation (number of weeds and fresh weight of weeds) in the control plots was assessed on an annual basis at the end of June and in July. The aim of the study was to evaluate the dynamic changes in the status and extent of barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) infestation in maize grown after various other crops in the Wielkopolska region, with a focus on the weather conditions. The study found that barnyardgrass was most likely to occur when maize was sown after winter wheat in a dry and warm year, and least likely when maize was grown in rotation after winter wheat in a cold year with average rainfall. The proportion of barnyardgrass weed mass in the total weed mass was significantly lower after winter rye than after winter wheat, winter oilseed rape and winter triticale. Further research into the biology and ecology of barnyardgrass is key to effectively controlling this weed and safeguarding sweetcorn yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop rotation aims to improve the sustainability and production efficiency of agricultural ecosystems, especially as demands for food and energy continue to increase. However, the regulation of soil microbial communities using crop rotation with oilseed flax and its relationship with key soil physicochemical driving factors are still not clear. In order to investigate this matter, we carried out a field study lasting four years involving various crop rotation sequences including FWPF, FPFW, PFWF, FWFP, ContF, and ContF1. In addition to evaluating soil physicochemical parameters, we employed Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology to explore the structure and variety of soil microbial communities. The findings indicated a notable rise in pH value with the FPFW treatment in contrast to other treatments, along with significant increases in AP, MBC, MBN, and qSMBC compared to ContF. The number of OTUs in the FPFW, WFPF, FPFW, and PFWF treatments was significantly increased by 4.10–11.11% compared to ContF (p < 0.05). The presence of Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria was greatly impacted by the FPFW treatment, whereas the presence of Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi was notably influenced by the ContF treatment. The soil bacterial community was primarily influenced by TC, pH, and NO3−-N according to correlation analysis. Specifically, the FPFW therapy notably raised the soil pH level while lowering the TC level. Furthermore, the FPFW therapy led to a notable rise in the proportion of Acidobacteria and a significant decline in the proportion of Actinobacteria. These findings provide important theoretical support for using FPFW rotation to regulate soil microbial communities and solve the problems of continuous cropping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative fertilizers are essential to minimizing the deteriorating effects of chemical fertilizers on soil and water quality/health. Accordingly, the present work investigated the effects of combined organic–inorganic fertilization (COIF) on wheat and rice yields, soil nutrients, and soil Cd accumulation. Hence, seven different treatments were set up: control (CK); conventional fertilization (CF); adequate fertilization (OF); organic fertilizer replacing 25% (T1) and 50% (T2) of OF; and organic nitrogen (N) replacing 25% (M1) and 50% (M2) of OF-N. Overall, significant increases occurred in the yields of COIF crops. Compared with the CF, the highest wheat and rice yields happened in the M1 treatment (with a difference of approximately 18.5%) (p < 0.05). COIF slightly alleviated soil acidification, and improved the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the study soils. Furthermore, COIF treatments significantly increased the contents of total phosphorus, total potassium, available phosphorus, and available potassium by 6.35 to 16.9%, 3.17 to 10.9%, 5.53 to 28.7%, and 2.6 to 12%, respectively (p < 0.05). Nevertheless, negligible increases took place in the Cd content of COIF soils compared with that of the CK. Altogether, our results concluded that 25% replacement of OF-N by organic N (M1) effectively improved the fertility/ecological sustainability of the study soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Today's society demands a better balance between the needs of agricultural production and environmental protection, particularly in reducing the application of pesticides. Compared to the past, fewer pesticide active ingredients are allowed and available in the European Union. One pest that is controlled by pesticides is our model pest, the pea moth (Cydia nigricana), which can cause damage to pea seeds (Pisum sativum). The aim of this study was to develop alternative and preventive strategies that can be used as crop protection in the shape of a GIS-based planning tool for crop rotation with a minimum distance to avoid specific pests. In our tool, the distance between current and previous pea sites was important, because insect pests follow their host plants. The hypothesis is that the greater the distance, the less infestation. We developed a web tool to create buffers with different distances around the previous pea sites to calculate the infestation risk for future pea sites. The web tool can be adapted in terms of distance and risk classes for other pests. Consequently, our tool helps to avoid pest infestation, and therefore, farmers can reduce pesticide applications, which protects the environment and strengthens biodiversity. Crop rotation is an important strategy for pest reduction. For mono-, or oligophagous pests that overwinter at a previously infested site, crop rotation means that the pests must find new host crop sites in the following year, and it is more efficient if a pest-specific distance is applied. Here, we report the development of a GIS-based tool for efficient cultivation planning using the example of the pest complex pea moth (Cydia nigricana) and grain and green peas (Pisum sativum). Monitoring data for four consecutive years (2016–2019) from 513 sites were used. Infestation of pea seeds and the distance to the previous year's pea sites were recorded. An adjustable Python script was developed by means of infestation–distance–correlation as a pest and crop-specific minimum migration distance (MD). The output of the tool is a risk map as decision support for cultivation planning. It shows different risk buffers with distances from 1261 m to 1825 m, depending on the cultivation type. The web tool is easily adjustable to other pests and crops anywhere in the world. The tool helps to prevent damages caused by agricultural, mono-, or oligophagous insect pests and consequently reduces pesticide applications for the benefit of the environment and biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vesuvio is likely the most if not one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. It is an active volcano, quiescent since 1944. The activity of the Monte Somma and Vesuvio volcanic complex is commonly referred to as two central volcanic edifices, namely Monte Somma and Vesuvio. Nevertheless, the opening of numerous eruptive fissures and related vents have characterized Monte Somma and Vesuvio throughout their lives. Spatter cones, spatter ramparts, and related eruptive fissures are disseminated downslope of Vesuvio's main cone and on the southern slopes of the volcano. Similarly, cinder cones, spatter cones, and welded spatters are distributed in the sequence cropping out on the Monte Somma cliff and on the northern slopes of Monte Somma. In this work, a total of 168 eruptive vents have been identified and characterized in a GIS environment in which field data have been merged with relevant information from historical maps and documents. These vents have been arranged into units bounded by unconformities (Unconformity Bounded Stratigraphic Units) defining the eruptive history of the volcano. Alignments of vents and eruptive fissures within each unit have been compared with regional tectonic elements and the volcano-tectonic features affecting Monte Somma and Vesuvio during the last 5600 years, thus inferring that different structural trends were active in the different stratigraphic units. In particular, we show that the N300°–320° regional, Apennine, left-lateral, strike-slip fault system, the N040°–055° Torre del Greco direct fault system, the N70° and the EW fault system, and the generally NS oriented group of local brittle elements, all analyzed here, were differently active during the investigated time span. These tectonic trends might control the position of the eruptive fissures and vents in case of future unrest of the volcano. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensified agriculture, a driver of biodiversity loss, can diminish ecosystem functions and their stability. Biodiversity can increase functional redundancy and is expected to stabilize ecosystem functions. Few studies, however, have explored how agricultural intensity affects functional redundancy and its link with ecosystem function stability. Here, within a continental‐wide study, we assess how functional redundancy of seed predation is affected by agricultural intensity and landscape simplification. By combining carabid abundances with molecular gut content data, functional redundancy of seed predation was quantified for 65 weed genera across 60 fields in four European countries. Across weed genera, functional redundancy was reduced with high field management intensity and simplified crop rotations. Moreover, functional redundancy increased the spatial stability of weed seed predation at the field scale. We found that ecosystem functions are vulnerable to disturbances in intensively managed agroecosystems, providing empirical evidence of the importance of biodiversity for stable ecosystem functions across space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post‐harvest diseases cause significant economic losses in the carrot production chain. In this study, storage losses and fungal pathogens causing them were analysed in the carrot yield from 52 different field plots in four areas in Finland in 3 years (2016–2018). Over 30,000 carrots were sampled and analysed at three time points during cold storage at 0–1°C. In March, after 5–6 months' storage, the average loss due to diseases was 20%–21% every year. Decay of the root tip was the most common disease symptom, followed by pits on the side and black rot in the crown, detected in 69.2%, 15.0% and 9.0% of the symptomatic samples, respectively. Both intensive carrot cultivation practice and early timing of harvest increased storage losses. Pathogens in 3057 symptomatic carrot tissue samples were isolated by culturing, and fungal species were identified. The most common fungal species detected were Mycocentrospora acerina, Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium spp., especially F. avenaceum. However, the frequency of different pathogens varied between the different years and time points during storage. Species‐specific PCR tests revealed that M. acerina and F. avenaceum were present in many early time‐point samples where they could not yet be detected by the culturing method. In Finland, this study on carrot post‐harvest diseases is the first large‐scale survey in which the fungal pathogens were isolated and identified by laboratory tests. In comparison with the previous studies, Fusarium spp. were detected more frequently in this study, while grey mould and Sclerotinia rot were less frequent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of lag fertilization techniques on Pakistani wheat production, highlighting the need to understand and mitigate the environmental impacts of farming methods. The basic purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of CO2 emission from fertilization and other factors on wheat production in Pakistan, using a time series of data from 1990 to 2020. CO2 emission from fertilization (CO2EF) is estimated using the default values provided by the IPCC guidelines. The ARDL approach analyses the short-run and long-run effects of CO2EF, technology level, energy use, agricultural land, and agricultural labor on wheat production. The results show that all factors have significantly impacted wheat production in Pakistan at levels of 1% and 5% significance, both in the short and long run. These findings suggest that reducing CO2EF, technology level, energy use, agricultural land, and agricultural labor on wheat production can help to increase wheat production in Pakistan. The study also highlights the importance of adopting sustainable and efficient fertilization practices, exploring alternative fertilizers, and using crop rotation systems to mitigate the adverse effects of carbon emissions from nitrogen fertilization, energy use, and the use of technology. These measures can contribute to a more sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture sector in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Plants can suppress the growth of other plants by modifying soil properties. These negative plant–soil feedbacks are often species‐specific, suggesting that some plants possess resistance strategies. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown.Here, we investigated whether benzoxazinoids, a class of dominant secondary metabolites that are exuded into the soil by maize and other cereals, allow maize plants to cope with plant–soil feedbacks.We find that three out of five tested crop species reduce maize (Zea mays L.) performance via negative plant–soil feedbacks relative to the mean across species. This effect is partially alleviated by the capacity of maize plants to produce benzoxazinoids. Soil complementation with purified benzoxazinoids restores the protective effect for benzoxazinoid‐deficient mutants. Sterilization and reinoculation experiments suggest that benzoxazinoid‐mediated protection acts via changes in soil biota. Substantial variation of the protective effect between experiments and soil types illustrates context dependency.In conclusion, exuded plant secondary metabolites allow plants to cope with plant–soil feedbacks. These findings expand the functional repertoire of plant secondary metabolites and reveal a mechanism by which plants can resist negative effects of soil feedbacks. The uncovered phenomenon may represent a promising avenue to stabilize plant performance in crop rotations. See also the Commentary on this article by Bass, 241: 2316–2319. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argentina stands as one of the leading consumers of herbicides. In a laboratory incubation experiment, the persistence and production of degradation metabolites of Atrazine, 2,4-D, and Glyphosate were investigated in a loamy clay soil under two contrasting agricultural practices: continuous soybean cultivation (T1) and intensified rotations with grasses and legumes (T2). The soils were collected from a long-term no-till trial replicating the influence of the meteorological conditions in the productive region. The soil was enriched with diluted concentrations of 6.71, 9.95, and 24 mg a.i./kg-1 of soil for the respective herbicides, equivalent to annual doses commonly used in the productive region. Samples were taken at intervals of 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32, and 64 days, and analysis was conducted using high-resolution liquid chromatography UPLC MS/MS. An optimal fit to the first-order kinetic model was observed for each herbicide in both rotations, resulting in relatively short half-lives. Intensified crop sequences favored the production of biotic degradation metabolites. The impact of the high frequency of soybean cultivation revealed a trend of soil acidification and a reduced biological contribution to attenuation processes in soil contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is known to subject the functioning of agroecosystems to high levels of biotic and abiotic stress and has a significant impact on agricultural production worldwide. Crop rotation is believed to be one way of adapting agriculture to climate change compared to monoculture This study aimed to examine the maize-wheat rotation impact on soil nitrogen dynamics and leaching losses. A study has been carried out on the experimental field of Tsalapitsa, Plovdiv region on Fluvisol. In this maize-wheat rotation experiment, we compared three fertilization treatments with increasing nitrogen and phosphorus rates to a control with no fertilization. In 2020, grain maize (Zea mays L.) FAO group 310, was grown with fertilizer rates (T0N0P0; T1N120P80; T2N160P120; T3N200P160). In the period 2020/2021, wheat, (Triticum aestivum L.), was grown with the following fertilizer variants - (T0 N0P0; T1N100P60; T2 N140P100; T3 N180P140). The field plots were equipped with modification of Ebermayer type of lysimeters, which collect water from 100 cm depth of soil profile. The volume of lysimetric waters was calculated, the nitrogen content and its leaching were analyzed. The study found that the lysimetric water volume after maize cultivation was 75.95 liters per square meter, approximately 2.5 to 3 times higher than that observed after wheat cultivation. Nitrogen content varied with fertilization rates, ranging from 10.8 to 37.5 mg/L for maize and 8.73 to 23.58 mg/L for wheat. The losses of the element with drainage runoff with the first crop were -- 5.6-28.5 kg.ha-1, and with wheat -- 1.2-6.3 kg.ha-1, respectively. It was established that when cereal crops were grown the losses of nitrate nitrogen out of the root zone were significantly reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term experiments (LTEs) are a vital source of information contributing to understanding and assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems. The Broadbalk Wheat Experiment at Rothamsted Research, UK, started in 1843, is the oldest continuing LTE in the world. In 1968, and later, major modifications were made to the experiment. These included the introduction of short-straw winter wheat varieties, growing wheat in rotation with other crops, for comparison with continuous (monoculture) wheat and testing higher rates of N fertilizer (up to 288 kg N ha-1). Other changes included the use of herbicides and other agrochemicals, except on selected sections. Regular liming continued to maintain soil pH. This paper reports crop yields and soil changes since 1968 and summarizes other studies including the incidence of weeds, pests and crop diseases, effects of treatments on nitrate and phosphate movement to drainage water, greenhouse gas fluxes, measurements of N and S inputs from the atmosphere, and many other factors. The change to short-straw varieties led to a doubling of grain yields. In recent years with cv. Crusoe yields of first wheat after a 2-year break in a rotation were >3 t ha-1 greater than continuous wheat, mainly because of decreased incidence of soil-borne pests and diseases. On average, yields of continuous wheat tended to increase at N rates up to 240 or 288 kg N ha-1 while the 1st wheat after a 2-year break often needed less N to reach maximum yield. Best yields now exceed 12 t ha-1 in some years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensification of crop sequence (ICS) has been proposed as a key field practice to preserve soil health and achieve more sustainable agricultural systems. However, the effects of ICS are site‐specific and vary according to soil characteristics, climatic conditions, the duration of the crop sequencing and the types of crop involved. Soil aggregate stability (AS) and soil organic carbon (SOC) stock are useful indicators of soil health as they are closely linked to diverse soil services and functions and are sensitive to management practices. We performed a meta‐analysis of 33 studies to analyse the impact of ICS on SOC stock and AS in field experiments in the central‐eastern region of Argentina. Our results showed that ICS increased SOC stock and AS, with an overall mean change of 7% and 22%, respectively. Fine‐textured soils showed the greatest SOC stock increase (12%), comparable to the increase observed in coarse‐textured soils (11%); in medium‐textured soils this increase was less than half (5%). Coarse‐textured soils had the greatest increase in AS (32%), followed by medium‐textured and fine‐textured soils, which also showed notable improvements (25% and 19%, respectively). Greater diversity of crops resulted in larger increases in both AS and SOC. ICS generated a larger increase of SOC stock in the soil surface (0–10 cm) than in the subsurface (10–20 cm), whereas the opposite was found for AS. Long‐term studies (≥9 years) had the greatest effect on AS and SOC stock. Regression analysis revealed that the initial carbon stock influenced SOC stock results following ICS, increases being greater when initial carbon stock contents were smaller. Introducing gramineous species into the crop sequence was associated with a greater improvement of AS and SOC stock. Finally, the mean rate of carbon sequestration from ICS in all the studies amounted to 0.28 Mg ha−1 yr−1. Overall, ICS is a useful strategy for improving SOC storage and AS in this region, though results may vary according to soil characteristics and management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions are closely linked to agricultural fertilisation. European and national policy incentives have been set to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; however, only a few evaluations have been conducted. Avoiding such emissions is an important climate change mitigation measure, but it is still uncertain which management measures over a long‐term, best out‐balance crop yield and GHG balances in agricultural systems. We here used the process‐based LandscapeDNDC model to simulate N2O emissions and trade‐offs in yield and soil nitrogen budget for four alternative arable cropping systems in three Austrian agricultural production zones belonging to different climatic regions. We evaluated statistical data on crop rotations and management practices, predominant soil types, and 10‐year daily weather conditions for four cropping systems: (1) conventional farming receiving the maximum allowed nitrogen fertilisation rate (Nmax), (2) conventional farming receiving 15% less fertiliser, (3) conventional farming receiving 25% less fertiliser, and (4) organic farming. Our results showed that soil N2O emissions could be best reduced in wet, high‐yield regions. Reducing nitrogen fertilisation by 15% and 25% mitigated N2O emissions by, on average, 22% and 39%, respectively, while the yield was reduced by 5% and 9%, respectively. In comparison, the same crops grown in the organic cropping system released 60% less N2O, but yield declined on average by 23%. Corn, winter barley, and vegetables showed the highest N2O reduction potential under reduced fertiliser input in conventional farming. In addition to N2O emissions, reduced fertilisation substantially decreased other nitrogen losses into the water and atmosphere. Generally, the soils under all cropping systems maintained a positive mean nitrogen budget. Our results suggest a significant emission reduction potential in certain production zones which, however, were accompanied by yield reductions. Knowledge of the emission patterns from cropping systems under different environmental conditions is essential to set the appropriate measures. In addition, region‐specific measures to reduce soil N2O emissions have to be in line with farmers' interests in order to facilitate the successful implementation of targeted nitrogen management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composition of a soil microbial community that is associated with novel rotation crops could contribute to an increased yield of subsequent crops and is an important factor influencing the composition of the rhizosphere microbiome. However, the effect of alternative dryland crops on soil microbial community composition is not clear in the northern Great Plains (NGP). The objective of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the effects of the oilseed crops Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata A.) or camelina (Camelina sativa L.) or a 10-species forage/cover crop (CC) mix and fallow on soil biological health. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis was used to characterize the microbial community structure. The results showed that the total bacterial PLFA proportion was significantly higher in camelina and fallow compared to CCs and carinata, whereas the total fungal proportion was significantly higher under a CC mix compared to camelina and fallow. The fungal-to-bacterial ratio was significantly higher in CCs (0.130) and carinata (0.113) compared to fallow (0.088). Fungi are often considered a good indicator of soil health, while bacteria are crucial in soil functions. The changes in specific microbial communities due to crop-related alterations might play a key role in the yield of subsequent crops. This study provides valuable insights into the effect of oilseeds, CCs, and fallow on microbial communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to study the isolates of pathogenic fungi under a microscope with their visualization using fluorescent staining. Phytopathogenic fungi Fusarium sp. were assessed using real-time PCR. The highest concentration from the standard F. cerealis series (3,000, 300, 30, and 0 ng DNA/mL) showed a Ct value of 26, while the non-matrix control Ct was almost 40 for both fungus and plant primers. Amplification curves were also obtained for healthy and infected barley stems and leaves. DNA extracts from the infected barley stems and leaves showed a Ct value ranging from 26 to 30. These results corresponded to the concentrations of 300-3,000 ng/mL of F. cerealis and F. proliferatum DNA, respectively. At Ct 36, the DNA content in healthy barley leaves and stems was the same as in non-matrix controls. The dissociation curves for F. cerealis DNA extracted from the infected barley stems and leaves peaked at 87ºC, thus being identical to the peak obtained with pure F. cerealis DNA. To prevent the infection of barley crops with phytopathogenic fungi, it is necessary to apply an integrated approach, which involves ecological principles of protection. Following this strategy, it was possible to successfully apply crop rotation and tillage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Black gram is a leguminous plant species. This pulse crop has been grown on the Indian subcontinent for a long time. Black gram a drought-resistant crop that grown both in the summer and the winter, usually in rotation with rice but occasionally in mixed farming. The objective of this research was to (i) quantify the short-term effects of high minimum temperature and enriched night CO2 (HMT and enCO2) on yield contribution factors and (ii) quantify seed quality parameters employing biochemical analysis. Methods: An investigation was carried out during summer 2021 and 2022 to evaluate the effect of high minimum temperature (ambient+3°C) and enriched night CO2 (600 ppm) (HMT and enCO2) on yield and seed quality parameters of black gram (Vigna mungo) under soil plant atmospheric research (SPAR) and ambient condition at Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu with ten treatments which were replicated thrice. Result: Black gram yield and quality parameters were significantly (p=0.05) reduced under HMT and enCO2. Pooled data from two successive summer seasons revealed that stress from (i) 50 to 56 DAS (Days after sowing), the number of flowers dropped per plant significantly increased by 24% and pod setting percent decreased by 19.9% (ii) 43 to 49 DAS, grain yield and biomass/plant decreased by 25.4% and 16.2%, respectively. Seed quality parameters revealed that stress during 50 to 56 DAS, seed protein, total sugar content, polyphenols, calcium and iron decreased by 19.4%, 23.7%, 16.2%, 29.6% and 30.2%, respectively. The proline and phytic acid were statistically reduced by 53.9% and 59.1%, respectively stress during 50 to 56 DAS. Stress from 64 to 70 DAS, seed moisture content was significantly decreased by 32.1%. Overall, black gram yield and seed quality was negatively affected on two treatments: stress imposed from 43 to 49 DAS (T7) and stress imposed from 50 to 56 DAS (T8) (50% flowering to pod filling stage). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing ecological control technologies against the fall armyworms (FAWs) is crucial. The ecological role of green manure crops has gained attention for their indirect contribution to enhancing crop resistance against specific pests and diseases in rotation systems. We hypothesize that green manure application directly affects FAWs host utilization. By using two-sex life tables, we measured the host adaptation of FAWs to hairy vetch and their offspring's adaptation to the original host (maize) as breeding generations increased during larval stages fed on hairy vetch. When FAWs' adaptability to maize was significantly affected by feeding on hairy vetch, we used 16s rDNA sequencing to detect the gut microbiota composition of current generation of FAW populations that fed continuously on either hairy vetch or maize. Our results suggest that continuous feeding of FAWs on hairy vetch does not enhance their adaptation to the host plant across generations, indicating no increased risk of damage to hairy vetch in maize-hairy vetch rotation. As successive generations of FAWs fed on hairy vetch, their host-specific adaptation to maize decreased or even lost, which was shown by a decrease in pupal weight and fecundity, as well as an inability of emergent adults in completing mating. FAWs' gut microbiota exhibited lower diversity when fed on hairy vetch compared to maize. Cyanobacteria were not detected in "Hairy_vetch" group, while Oxyphotobacteria_unclassified, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Serratia, and Klebsiella showed significantly differences in abundance between the "Maize" and "Hairy_vetch" groups. Additionally, gut microbial taxa and FAWs performance were significantly correlated. Overall, the feeding experience of FAWs on hairy vetch resulted in a reduced or was lost maize-specific adaptation, as shown through changes in gut microbiota. Our study provides experimental evidence for the ecological role of maize-green manure rotation systems in pest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation agriculture and associated soil health practices potentially enhance soil resilience by improving the soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties and processes. This study assessed the impact of tillage (conventional tillage [CT] and no‐till [NT]); crop rotation: 2‐year corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max L.), 3‐year corn–soybean–oat (Avena sativa L.), and 4‐year corn–soybean–oat–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)]; cover crops (cover crop [CC] and no cover crop [NC]); and drainage (tile drainage [TD] and without drainage [ND]) on soil organic matter (SOM), bulk density, wet aggregate stability (WAS), and field‐saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs). Soil samples were collected over 2 years apart from five depths (0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–60, and 60–90 cm) and analyzed for SOM, bulk density, and WAS. In‐situ infiltration tests were conducted in each plot to determine field‐saturated hydraulic conductivity. This study showed that NT practice significantly increased SOM by 5.4%, WAS by 7.7%, and bulk density by 6.7% within 0–10 cm soil profile but decreased Kfs by 47.6% compared to CT through increased bulk density in the topsoil. NT increased SOM for every soil depth and, similarly, increased WAS for every depth but only statistically significant increases occurred at 0–10 cm and 60–90 cm. Further, higher crop diversity decreased bulk density and increased WAS. Nine years of CC and six years of tile drainage practices had no significant effect on SOM, bulk density, WAS, and Kfs. Core Ideas: Long‐term no‐till (NT) has a significant impact on soil physical and hydraulic properties.NT increased soil bulk density, soil organic matter (SOM), and wet aggregate stability (WAS) by 6.7%, 5.4%, and 7.7%, respectively, for 0‐ to 10‐cm depth but decreased Kfs by 47.6% within profile than conventional tillage (CT).Compaction decreased at 0–10 cm in CT but increased within the 10–60 cm soil profile.NT with more diverse rotation and cover crop (CC) practices showed limited or no positive impact on Kfs for silt clay loam.CC and tile drainage(TD) had minimal impact on SOM, bulk density, WAS, and Kfs under silt clay loam in southeastern South Dakota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paw San Hmwe (PSH) is an indigenous rice variety from Myanmar with a good taste, a pleasant fragrance, and excellent elongation ability during cooking. However, its low yield potential and strong photoperiod sensitivity reduce its productivity, and it is vulnerable to climate changes during growth. To improve the photoperiod insensitivity, yield, and plant stature of PSH, the high-yield genes Grain number 1a (Gn1a) and Wealthy Farmer's Panicle (WFP), together with the photoperiod insensitivity trait, were introgressed into PSH via marker-assisted backcross breeding and phenotype selection. For the photoperiod insensitivity trait, phenotypic selection was performed under long-day conditions during the dry season. After foreground selection of Gn1a and WFP via simple sequence repeat genotyping, genotyping-by-sequencing was conducted to validate the introgression of target genes and determine the recurrent parent genome recovery of the selected lines. The improved lines were insensitive to photoperiod, and the Gn1a and WFP introgression lines showed significantly higher numbers of primary panicle branches and spikelets per panicle than the recurrent parent, with comparative similarity in cooking and eating qualities. This study successfully improved PSH by decreasing its photoperiod sensitivity and introducing high-yield genes via marker-assisted selection. The developed lines can be used for crop rotation and double-season cropping of better-quality rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the effects of different cropping rotations on soil moisture and economic benefit. Cabbage–maize–cabbage (CMC), beans–maize–cabbage (BMC), and cabbage–cabbage–cabbage (CCC) treatments were set up to study the effects of different crop rotation combinations on soil water storage, evapotranspiration (ET), water use efficiency (WUE), and economic benefit. The results showed that the average soil moisture content decreased initially and then increased with crop rotation, whereas it continued to decrease with continuous cabbage cropping as the crop grew. CMC reduced ET, whereas BMC increased ET from the nodulation to maturation stages of cabbage compared with CCC in the third experimental year. WUE of different crops showed that cabbage > maize > beans. The economic benefit of the CMC was higher than the other treatments in the third planting year. Therefore, the best crop rotation combination in this area is cabbage–maize–cabbage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term performance of perennial energy crops and their elimination is important for long-term planning and use of agricultural land. In this study, the elimination of a six-year-old Sida hermaphrodita (hereafter referred to as Sida) stock for agricultural reclamation was investigated over three years. Crop rotation using maize, winter wheat, and sugar beet, a catch crop, as well as mechanical–chemical treatments were employed according to agricultural practices. After soil grubbing at the beginning of the experiment and prior to further treatments, on half of the former Sida planting area, visible Sida roots were manually removed in addition to determining their potential effect on total resprouting. Prior to each crop harvest, resprouted Sida plants were counted. At harvest, by the end of the first year, 476 versus 390 resprouted Sida plants were found in the investigated areas of 315 m2 each, where preceding manual root removal either took place or not, respectively. This accounted for 76% and 62% of the initial Sida planted. In the second year, the overall number of resprouted Sida declined significantly, accounting for 15 and 11 plants (i.e., 2.4% and 1.8% of initially planted), and in the third year, only two and four residual plants (i.e., 0.3% and 0.6%) were found, representing an almost 100% Sida elimination rate. We conclude that additional root removal did not result in a significant difference in Sida regrowth compared to the mechanical–chemical treatments only. No impediments to harvesting and no loss of yield in any crops were observed due to resprouted Sida in the existing field crops. No Sida plants were found outside the initial field, indicating a low dispersion potential and invasiveness. The results show that successful recultivation of an established Sida stock is possible through common agricultural practices and that resprouting Sida plants did not negatively affect the subsequent crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochar incorporation into soil has shown potential, in enhancing nitrogen fertilizer (N-fertilizer) efficacy and soil organic carbon content (SOC). This study addresses a critical gap in the literature by investigating the effects of biochar addition over a seven-year period (2014–2020) on inorganic N, SOC, and pH in Haplic Luvisol. The research involved a rain-fed field experiment, with a crop rotation comprising spring barley, maize, spring wheat, and pea. Biochar, applied at the rates of 0, 10, and 20 t ha−1 in 2014, was reapplied to specific plots in 2018. Biochar was also combined with N-fertilizer at three level (N0, N1, and N2). Results showed a significant interactive influence of biochar and N-fertilizer combination on NO3− and NH4+ contents. Intriguingly, the addition of 10 t biochar ha−1 consistently decreased soil inorganic N levels across most of the examined months. Increasing biochar application rates led to a significant rise in pH, establishing a clear, negative correlation between soil pH and inorganic N content. Biochar significantly increased SOC compared to the control, particularly after the reapplication in 2018. However, this effect showed a diminishing trend over time. The study suggests that incorporating biochar treatments may enhance N-fertilizer effectiveness. However, the long-term implications of biochar application with N-fertilizer on N mineralization are specific to individual soil and biochar combinations. Except the application of 20 t ha−1 biochar at N2 in 2019, biochar did not affect the crop yields. Studied soil properties, including those influenced by biochar had nuanced impact on different aspects of crop yield. Article Highlights: Biochar obtained from mixed paper fiber sludge and the grain husks resulted in a significant increase of SOC over 7 years. Biochar aging resulted in a decrease in pH one year after its application in 2015 and 2019. The combination of N-fertilizer with biochar caused an improvement in soil inorganic N content in 2014 and reapplication in 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plethora of microorganisms inhabiting the immediate vicinity of healthy root systems plays a pivotal role in facilitating optimal nutrient and water acquisition by plants. In this study,we investigated the soil microbial communities associated with wheat roots within distinct microhabitats, root-affected soil (RA), rhizosphere (RH), and rhizoplane (RP). Thesemicrohabitats were explored at five soil depths, and our investigation focused on wheat cultivated in a monoculture (WM) and wheat crop rotation (WR).Overall, there were significant differences inmicrobiota composition between WM and WR, although no difference in bacterial diversity was observed. Differentially abundant taxa between WM and WR were observed in all three microhabitats, emphasizing important insights on the localization of commonly associated bacteria to wheat roots. Comparing themicrohabitats, RP exhibited the most dissimilar microbial composition between WM and WR. Taxa that were differentially abundant between WM and WR were observed in the three microhabitats. The high relative abundance of taxa belonging to the phylum Proteobacteria in the rhizoplane, such as Devosia, Pseudomonas, Shinella, and Sphingomonas, along with other genera, such as Pedobacter (Bacteroidota), Agromyces and Streptomyces (Actinobacteriota) highlight the recruitment of potentially beneficial bacterial taxa to the vicinity of the roots. Interestingly, these taxa were observed along the entire length of wheat roots, even at depths of up to 120 cm. The presence of specific taxa associated with wheat roots at all soil depths may be beneficial for coping with nutrient and water shortages, particularly under upcoming climate scenarios,where watermay be a limiting factor for plant growth. This study provides valuable insights for designing management strategies to promote a diverse and healthy microbial community in wheat cropping systems, considering soil depth and microhabitats as key factors. Although, at this time, we cannot link specific bacterial taxa to yield reductions commonly observed in monocultural fields, we propose that some genera may enhance plant nutrient or water acquisition in rotation compared with monoculture. Advanced technologies, including functional analyses and culturomics, may further enhance our understanding of the ecological roles played by these microbes and their potential applications in sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Durum wheat is the most important cereal in Algeria. The yield of durum wheat is low and depends on climatic conditions and technical operations. Methods: The objective of this study is to compare the effect of the no-till system (NT) and conventional tillage system (CT) with three crop rotation sequences on wheat yield, yield components and some physiological traits under rain-fed conditions. The study was conducted at the technical institute of field crops-Sétif-in east of Algeria, over three crop seasons: 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19. Result: The number of plants/m², tillers/m², spikes/m² and grain yield were affected by the tillage system and the environmental conditions. Seed weight, straw yield, biological yield, leaf relative water content and leaf chlorophyll content were significantly affected by the environment but not by the tillage system. While the spike density, the harvest index and the grain yield were significantly higher under NT system than in the CT system. Furthermore, wheat grain yield was also higher following legumes than in wheat monoculture. These results indicate that no-tillage and crop diversification by adding leguminous in rotation improves grain legumes yield of durum wheat under semi-arid conditions of Algeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Current understanding of how cropping sequence affects pathogen-suppressive microbiomes in soil is limited. We investigated the effects of several cropping sequences from the 2020–2021 growing seasons, including cereals, pulses, and an oilseed, on microbial communities in rhizosphere and bulk soils in two western Canadian field locations. Methods: The fungi and bacteria were characterized by Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, respectively. The QIIME 2™ bioinformatic pipeline was used to measure the diversity and abundance of microbial species. Additionally, the concentration of the soil mineral chemicals, including macro and micro nutrients, was determined by colorimetric analysis. Results: Ascomycota (62.5%) was the most common fungal phylum, followed by Glomeromycota (11.1%), Mucoromycota (8.9%), and Basidiomycota (6.8%). Pseudomonadota (35.0%), Actinomycetota (21.1%), and Bacillota (10.1%) were the three most common bacterial phyla. Fungal OTU richness and phylogenetic diversity were highest in the cereal-pulse cropping sequencing, and bacterial OTU richness was highest in the pulse-oilseed sequences. Fusarium was the fungal genus most commonly associated with cereal-cereal monoculture and least common in the oilseed-pulse cropping sequences. The fungi (Mortierella, Funneliformis, and Diversispora) and bacteria (Rhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Flavobacterium, and Candidatus) were higher in the cropping sequences involving pulses. The most prevalent bacteria were Streptomyces in cereal-related sequences and Solirubrobacter and Pseudomonas in oilseed-related sequences. Among soil mineral chemicals, nitrate-nitrogen, copper, calcium, potassium, and chlorine were associated with a number of beneficial fungal and bacterial genera but not with pathogenic fungal genera. Conclusions: The results highlight the consequences of crop species selection in cropping sequences and the management of agrochemicals in the agricultural production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural production can be raised sustainably by a scientifically based crop structure. We determine the influence of the saturation of crop rotations with sunflower and basic soil tillage on the number and species composition of weeds, including the parasitic sunflower broomrape. The experiment included crop rotations with sunflower comprising 12.5, 20, 25, 33.3, 50 and 100%, and three systems of tillage: mouldboard plough, disking, and no-till. Compared with the mouldboard plough, disking and no-till left 1.3 to 1.5-times as many weeds. The greatest damage by sunflower broomrape was observed in the 2-field rotation of winter wheat – sunflower, and in continuous sunflower, with 16 and 32% of crop plants affected, respectively. Broomrape infestation was highest under the mouldboard plough where infestation was 1.2–1.6 times greater than under disking and no-till, respectively. The best oil seed yields (2.92 and 2.95t/ha) were achieved by 8- and 5-field rotations under the plough; the lowest in short rotations with a sunflower saturation of 50%, and with continuous sunflower, amounting to 1.75–2.21t/ha under the plough, 1.57–2.01t/ha with disking, and 1.49–1.95t/ha with no-till. Given market demand, it would be expedient to increase the proportion of sunflower in the structure of sown areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the steppe zone of Ukraine during the growing season autumn 2021 through the beginning of summer 2022, water balancing in a winter wheat crop with peas as a precursor was 3–9 times greater than with a cereal (spring barley) or sunflower as a precursor; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) following peas was 1.6–1.7 times greater; the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI, the rate of moisture supply) in the plant leaf at the macro-stages BBCH 10–61 was 1.54–1.82 times higher; and productivity 1.43–1.56 times higher. Water consumption for the formation of a tonne of winter wheat grain following peas was one third less compared to other precursors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maize is the third most important food crop in India. Conventionally it is a furrow irrigated crop and hence, it calls for an effective on-farm management of water in field through micro irrigation. Intensive agriculture practice like continuous monocropping without following the principles of crop rotation and sequence have resulted in several ecological complications. Hence, blackgram was introduced as a succeeding crop after drip irrigated maize. The aim of the study was to examine the residual effect of drip irrigation levels and maize genotypes and their interaction on succeeding crop i.e. blackgram. Methods: During summer 2018 and 2019, maize experiment was conducted with four irrigation levels (drip irrigation at 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 ETc and furrow irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio) and four maize genotypes (NK-6240, Pinnacle, CP-818 and RCRMH-2). After maize, succeeding blackgram was taken up under rainfed condition of Dharwad during kharif 2018 and 2019. Result: Performance of blackgram was superior under residual effect of drip irrigation treatments over furrow irrigation method. Among the interactions, significantly higher yield, RWUE and net returns were recorded with residual effect of I1G4 treatment combination. However, it was on par with I1G2, I1G3, I1G1, I2G1, I2G2, I2G4, I3G2 and I3G3 treatment combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugar beet production is highly affected by weeds. The structure of crop rotation, the use of intercrops and different tillage techniques bring several benefits to sugar beet cultivation and create different living conditions for weeds. The response of weed communities in sugar beet stands has not been studied. The experimental plot is in the cadastral area of Ivanovice na Hané (Czech Republic). During an eight-year monitoring period (2013–2020), 46 weed species were identified. The dominant species was Chenopodium album. There were also summer and winter weeds. A more varied crop rotation increased the intensity of weed infestation, with winter weeds being the most common. On the contrary, a higher proportion of cereals in the crop structure favors the presence of summer weeds. The tillage technology and the inclusion of catch crops did not significantly affect the intensity of weed infestation in sugar beet stands or the spectrum of weed species. Current cropping technologies have driven the evolution of weeds. Due to their short life cycles and relatively simple genomes, weeds can respond very quickly to technological measures and, thus, change their harmfulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cabbage is an annual vegetable crop species cultivated throughout the year. The development of high-yielding cabbage hybrids and the optimization of several agronomic management practices such as fertilization and crop rotation have resulted in increased soil fertility, crop yield and product quality. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the farming system (organic and conventional) and the applied rotation scheme on soil nutrient content, head yield and the nutrient content of cabbage. The preceding crops included either pea (P), faba bean (F) or cabbage (C), and thus, the rotation schemes were P-C, F-C and C-C. Sheep manure was applied in the organic farming system, and the inorganic fertilizer 11-15-15 (N-P2O5-K2O) was applied to the conventionally cultivated plants. The results reveal an interaction between the farming system and the preceding crop for the head yield, with the lowest values (57.00 t ha−1 and 53.87 t ha−1 in 2015/2016 and 2016/2017, respectively) recorded in plots where cabbage was cultivated as a preceding crop under the organic farming system. The N, P and K contents in head tissues were affected only by the farming system, with the greatest values recorded in the conventional farming system. Both factors affected the nutrient content in the soil. Specifically, the highest values of NO3− and total N content in the soil were recorded in the P-C and F-C rotations, and the K content was higher in the continuous cabbage cropping system (C-C). Moreover, the NO3−, P and K contents in the soils were higher in the conventional farming system compared to the organic system. To conclude, combining inorganic fertilization in a crop rotation scheme with legume species such as pea and faba bean as preceding crops for cabbage can result in increased soil fertility and head yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herbicide residues in farmland soils have attracted a great deal of attention in recent decades. Their accumulation potentially decreases the activity of microbes and related enzymes, as well as disturbs the nitrogen cycle in farmland soils. In previous studies, the influence of natural factors or nitrogen fertilization on the soil nitrogen cycle have frequently been examined, but the role of herbicides has been ignored. This study was conducted to examine the effects of herbicides on NH3 volatilization- and denitrification-related nitrogen loss through three rotation cycles from 2013 to 2016. The four treatments included no urea fertilizer (CK), urea (CN), urea+acetochlor-fenoxaprop-ethyl (AC-FE), and urea+2,4D-dicamba (2,4D-DI) approaches. The results showed that the application of nitrogen fertilizer significantly increased the nitrogen losses from ammonia volatilization and denitrification in the soil. Ammonia volatilization was the main reason for the gaseous loss of urea nitrogen in a wheat–maize rotation system in the North China Plain (NCP), which was significantly higher than the denitrification loss. In the CK treatment, the cumulative nitrogen losses from ammonia volatilization and denitrification during the three crop rotation cycles were 66.64 kg N hm−2 and 8.07 kg N hm−2, respectively. Compared with CK, the nitrogen losses from ammonia volatilization and denitrification under the CN treatment increased 52.62% and 152.88%, respectively. The application of AC-FE and 2,4D-DI significantly reduced the nitrogen gas losses from the ammonia volatilization and denitrification in the soil. Ammonia volatilization reduction mainly occurred during the maize season, and the inhibition rates of AC-FE and 2,4D-DI were 7.72% and 11.80%, respectively, when compared with CN. From the perspective of the entire wheat–maize rotation cycle, the inhibition rates were 5.41% and 7.23% over three years, respectively. Denitrification reduction also mainly occurred in the maize season, with the inhibition rates of AC-FE and 2,4D-DI being 34.12% and 30.94%, respectively, when compared with CN. From the perspective of the entire wheat–maize rotation cycle, the inhibition rates were 28.39% and 28.58% over three years, respectively. Overall, this study demonstrates that herbicides could impact the nitrogen cycle of farmland soil ecosystems via the suppression of ammonia volatilization and denitrification rates, thus reducing gaseous N losses and mitigating global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various crop rotation patterns can result in differences in nutrient consumption and the accumulation of toxic substances in the soil, indirectly impacting the soil environment and its nutrient supply capacity. Implementing optimized crop planting practices is beneficial for maintaining the favorable physical and chemical properties of farmland soil in the arid area of northwestern China. This study aimed to establish a crop rotation pattern to improve key enzyme activities and soil nitrogen conversion efficiency, as well as understand the underlying mechanism for enhancing nitrogen supply capacity. A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of four flax planting patterns, which included 13 crop rotation patterns with different crop frequencies: 100% Flax (Cont F), 50% Flax (I) (WFPF, FPFW, PFWF, FWFP), 50% Flax (II) (FWPF, WPFF, PFFW, FFWP), 25% Flax (WPWF, PWFW, WFWP, FWPW), on the key enzyme activities and the rate of soil nitrogen conversion, as well as the nitrogen supply capacity. Here, F, P, and W represent oilseed flax, potato, and wheat, respectively. The results indicated that the wheat stubble significantly increased the intensity of soil ammonification and denitrification before planting. Additionally, the activity levels of soil nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase under wheat stubble were significantly increased by 66.67% to 104.55%, while soil urease activity significantly decreased by 27.27–133.33% under wheat stubble compared to other stubbles. After harvest, the activities of soil nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase under the wheat stubble decreased significantly, and the intensity of soil ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification reduced significantly by 7.83–27.72%. The WFWP and FWFP treatments led to a significant increase in soil nitrogen fixation intensity under various crop rotations after harvest and significantly increased the levels of inorganic nitrogen in the soil before the planting of the next crop. This study suggests that the long-term rotation planting patterns WFWP and FWFP can significantly enhance the key enzyme activities of soil nitrogen conversion and significantly improve soil nitrogen conversion before crop sowing. This may increase the rate of soil nitrogen transfer and raise the available nitrogen content of the soil. These findings are crucial for reducing soil nitrogen loss and improving soil nitrogen nutrient supply capacity in dry areas of the Loess Plateau of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

【Objective】Effects of rotation of patchouli [Pogostemon cablin（Blanco) Benth.]and mint（Mentha haplocalyx Briq.)and continuous cropping of patchouli on the quality and rhizosphere soil microecology of patchouli were studied, to provide the basis for alleviating the continuous cropping obstacle of patchouli and its application in production. 【Method】The cutting seedlings of patchouli and mint seedlings were used in the field experiment. There were three treatments: patchouli continuous cropping group（planting patchouli for two consecutive years), patchouli and mint crop rotation group（mint was planted in the first year and patchouli was planted in the second year), control group（no crop was planted in the first year, and patchouli was planted in the same field in the second year after harvest). The main agronomic traits, antioxidant enzyme activities in leaves, patchouli alcohol content, physical and chemical properties of rhizosphere soil, microbial quantity and enzyme activities were measured at different growth stages of patchouli. 【Result】When the patchouli plant had grown for 180 days, the main agronomic traits（plant height, stem diameter, number of primary branches, number of leaves, chlorophyll content, leaf area) and alcohol content of patchouli in rotation group were significantly higher than those in continuous cropping group（P＜0.05). The activities of peroxidase and superoxide dismutase of leaves in patchouli were respectively 54.23%（P＜0.05) and 115.71%（P＜0.05) higher in the rotational crop group compared with the continuous cropping group. Soil physical and chemical properties（pH, organic matter, available P, hydrolyzable N, available K) of patchouli rhizosphere in rotation group were significantly higher than those in continuous cropping group. The number of soil bacteria and actinomycetes in rotation group increased by 98.95%（P＜0.05) and 71.61%（P＜0.05), respectively. However, the number of soil fungi in the crop rotation group was reduced by 48.86%（P＜0.05) compared to the continuous crop group; The activities of soil peroxidase and urease in rotation group increased by 827.66%（P＜0.05) and 655.00%（P＜0.05) compared with the continuous cropping group, the activity of soil sucrase and polyphenol oxidase in rotation group was 44.49%（P＜0.05) and 28.99%（P＜0.05) lower than that in continuous cropping group. 【Conclusion】The agronomic traits, patchouli alcohol content and soil micro-ecological index of patchouli and mint rotation were better than those of patchouli continuous cropping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]