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Green development of the agricultural whole industry chain (AWIC) is vital for enhancing agricultural products’competitiveness and increasing added value of the industry; it is also inevitable for improving resource utilization efficiency and ensuring sustainable economic growth. In this study, we define the concept of AWIC green development and analyze its characteristics based on existing theories of AWIC and agriculture green development. We analyze the AWIC development status, major challenges, and feasible pathways in China. Our study shows that critical dilemmas regarding the AWIC green transformation include insufficient systematic design, short industrial chain, difficulty in participation of small- and medium-sized entities, low resource utilization efficiency, lack of value-added effect, and lack of ecological synergy. The AWIC green transformation and policy support are essential in elevating values for the whole industry chain. The major pathways for AWIC green development include internal circulation integration, horizontal expansion, vertical element integration, and cross-industrial integration. We suggest that China should strengthen top-level design, boost innovation, expand ecological advantages, improve supervision services of the whole industry, and explore benefit coupling mechanisms. These measures can complete the industrial layout, optimize the product value transformation system, and promote the AWIC green development.

Introduction: High-yield and high-quality production of silage maize in cold regions is crucial for ensuring the sustainable development of livestock industry., Methods: This study first conducted an experiment to select the optimized silage maize varieties and densities using a split-plot design. The tested maize varieties were Xuntian 3171, Xuntian 16, Xunqing 858, and Fengtian 12, with each variety planted at densities of 67,500, 79,500, and 90,000 plants ha -1 . Following the variety and density selection, another experiment on optimizing nitrogen management for silage maize was carried out using a completely randomized design: no nitrogen fertilizer (T1), applying urea-N 320 kg ha -1 (T2), applying urea-N 240 kg ha -1 (T3), applying polymer-coated urea-N 240 kg N ha -1 (T4), and ratios of polymer-coated urea-N to urea-N at 9:1 (T5), 8:2 (T6), 7:3 (T7), and 6:4 (T8). T5-T8 all applied 240 kg N ha -1 . The yield and quality of silage maize, nitrogen use efficiency and balance, and economic benefits were evaluated., Results: Results showed that Xunqing 858 had significantly higher plant height (8.7%-22.6% taller than the other three varieties) and leaf area (30.9% larger than Xuntian 3171), resulting in yield 11.5%-51.6% higher than the other three varieties. All varieties achieved maximum yields at a planting density of 79,500 plants ha -1 . Integrated management strategy 7 (T7: Xunqing 858, 79,500 plants ha -1 , polymer-coated urea-N to urea-N ratio of 7:3) achieved the highest yield of 73.1 t ha -1 , a 6.1%-58.1% increase over other treatments. This strategy also produced the highest crude protein (11.1%) and starch (19.1%) contents, and the lowest neutral detergent fiber content (50.6%), with economic benefits improved by 10.3%-97.8% compared to other strategies. Additionally, T7 improved nitrogen use efficiency by 15.4%-94.5%, reduced soil nitrate leaching by 4.4%-36.5%, and decreased nitrogen surplus by 7.0%-46.6%., Conclusion and Discussion: Comprehensive analysis revealed that the integrated management strategy 7 significantly improved silage maize yield and quality in cold regions while enhancing nitrogen use efficiency and reducing the risk of nitrate leaching, aligning with green agriculture development requirements. These findings will provide vital theoretical insights and practical guidance for high-yield and high-quality silage maize production in cold regions worldwide., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Tong, Jia, Xu, Wang and Sun.)