IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v335y2025ics0360544225036606.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A 22-year implementation of no-tillage combined with stubble retention practice enhances the sustainability evaluation index by 54 % under a forage-crop rotation system in rainfed regions

Author

Listed:
  • Dong, Xiu
  • Zhang, Yan
  • Yang, Qian
  • Shen, Yuying

Abstract

Conservation tillage practices, including no-tillage, stubble retention, and crop rotation, represents transformative strategies to enhance productivity, soil health, and long-term sustainability. However, quantifying their energy efficiency and environmental impacts of small-scale forage-crop rotation systems has not well explored, primarily due to intensive farming practices and labor requirements. To address this gap, a sustainability evaluation index (SEI) was developed to systematically assess the multidimensional performance of 22-years of conservation tillage practices, focusing on SOC sequestration, energy utilization, net benefits and carbon footprint (CF). Four tillage management practices were evaluated in a forage-crop rotation system, including conventional tillage (T), conventional tillage + stubble retention (TS), no-tillage (NT) and no-tillage + stubble retention (NTS) that the results showed that the implementation of T, TS, NT and NTS treatments for a period of 22 years increased SOC storage by 36.1 %, 53.1 %, 35.5 % and 64.5 % in the 0–30 cm soil layer, respectively. No-tillage decreased indirect greenhouse gas (IGHG) emissions from agricultural practices, while stubble retention improved net GHG mitigation through enhanced SOC sequestration. The NTS treatment enhanced energy use efficiency by 63.0 %, compared with T, resulting in net benefit of 717 $ ha−1 yr−1. Additionally, NTS reduced CF by 22.3 %–41.1 % and increased SEI by 53.5 %. The T treatment increased SOC storage, thereby challenging the prevailing assumptions regarding its long-term effects in smallholder systems. Overall, the NTS treatment demonstrated sustainable gains, underscoring its essential role in smallholder agroecosystems. This study redefines the paradigm of conservation tillage, highlighting the trade-offs and synergies among energy, economics, and GHG emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Dong, Xiu & Zhang, Yan & Yang, Qian & Shen, Yuying, 2025. "A 22-year implementation of no-tillage combined with stubble retention practice enhances the sustainability evaluation index by 54 % under a forage-crop rotation system in rainfed regions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:335:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225036606
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.138018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225036606
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.138018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:335:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225036606. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.