IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v11y2021i8p718-d604229.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conservation Agriculture as a System to Enhance Ecosystem Services

Author

Listed:
  • Somasundaram Jayaraman

    (ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Nabibagh, Bhopal 462038, Madhya Pradesh, India)

  • Yash P. Dang

    (School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia)

  • Anandkumar Naorem

    (ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Bhuj 370105, Gujarat, India)

  • Kathryn L. Page

    (School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia)

  • Ram C. Dalal

    (School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia)

Abstract

Conservation agriculture (CA) is considered a sustainable practice with the potential to maintain or increase crop productivity and improve environmental quality and ecosystem services. It typically improves soil quality and water conservation; however, its effect on crop productivity is highly variable and dependent on local conditions/management. Crop residue retention plays a crucial role in CA and can help to improve overall soil health and ultimately crop productivity and sustainability. However, weed control, herbicide resistance, and weed shift under residue retained fields is a major challenge. Moreover, CA can increase water infiltration and reduce soil loss and runoff. This reduces the surface transport of nitrate and phosphorus from agricultural fields and the eutrophication of water bodies, although leaching of nitrate to groundwater can potentially increase. In addition, CA has been proposed as one of the components in climate-smart agriculture, owing to its reduced period to seed/plant next crop, reduced soil disturbance and low consumption of fossil fuels. Therefore, compared to the conventional intensive tillage, CA has a greater potential for soil C sequestration, favors higher soil biodiversity, lowers greenhouse gas emission, and can assist in mitigating climate change. However, not all experiments report a positive impact. The understanding and decoding the site-specific complexities of CA system is important and requires a multidisciplinary approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Somasundaram Jayaraman & Yash P. Dang & Anandkumar Naorem & Kathryn L. Page & Ram C. Dalal, 2021. "Conservation Agriculture as a System to Enhance Ecosystem Services," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-14, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:8:p:718-:d:604229
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/8/718/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/8/718/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. Lal, 2009. "Soil degradation as a reason for inadequate human nutrition," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 1(1), pages 45-57, February.
    2. Erenstein, Olaf, 2011. "Cropping systems and crop residue management in the Trans-Gangetic Plains: Issues and challenges for conservation agriculture from village surveys," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 54-62, January.
    3. Jeetendra Prakash Aryal & Tek B. Sapkota & Ritika Khurana & Arun Khatri-Chhetri & Dil Bahadur Rahut & M. L. Jat, 2020. "Climate change and agriculture in South Asia: adaptation options in smallholder production systems," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 5045-5075, August.
    4. Heather M. Beach & Ken W. Laing & Morris Van De Walle & Ralph C. Martin, 2018. "The Current State and Future Directions of Organic No-Till Farming with Cover Crops in Canada, with Case Study Support," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Adimassu, Zenebe & Alemu, Getachew & Tamene, Lulseged, 2019. "Effects of tillage and crop residue management on runoff, soil loss and crop yield in the Humid Highlands of Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 11-18.
    6. Cameron M. Pittelkow & Xinqiang Liang & Bruce A. Linquist & Kees Jan van Groenigen & Juhwan Lee & Mark E. Lundy & Natasja van Gestel & Johan Six & Rodney T. Venterea & Chris van Kessel, 2015. "Productivity limits and potentials of the principles of conservation agriculture," Nature, Nature, vol. 517(7534), pages 365-368, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Somasundaram Jayaraman & Meenakshi Sahu & Nishant K. Sinha & Monoranjan Mohanty & Ranjeet S. Chaudhary & Brijesh Yadav & Lalit K. Srivastava & Kuntal M. Hati & Ashok K. Patra & Ram C. Dalal, 2022. "Conservation Agricultural Practices Impact on Soil Organic Carbon, Soil Aggregation and Greenhouse Gas Emission in a Vertisol," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Massamba Diop & Ngonidzashe Chirinda & Adnane Beniaich & Mohamed El Gharous & Khalil El Mejahed, 2022. "Soil and Water Conservation in Africa: State of Play and Potential Role in Tackling Soil Degradation and Building Soil Health in Agricultural Lands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-29, October.
    3. Kaiwen Chen & Shuang’en Yu & Tao Ma & Jihui Ding & Pingru He & Yao Li & Yan Dai & Guangquan Zeng, 2022. "Modeling the Water and Nitrogen Management Practices in Paddy Fields with HYDRUS-1D," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Subhradip Bhattacharjee & Amitava Panja & Moumita Panda & Subham Dutta & Susanta Dutta & Rakesh Kumar & Dinesh Kumar & Malu Ram Yadav & Tatiana Minkina & Valery P. Kalinitchenko & Rupesh Kumar Singh &, 2023. "How Did Research on Conservation Agriculture Evolve over the Years? A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nana Chen & Xin Zhao & Shuxian Dou & Aixing Deng & Chengyan Zheng & Tiehua Cao & Zhenwei Song & Weijian Zhang, 2023. "The Tradeoff between Maintaining Maize ( Zea mays L.) Productivity and Improving Soil Quality under Conservation Tillage Practice in Semi-Arid Region of Northeast China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Anantha, K.H. & Garg, Kaushal K. & Barron, Jennie & Dixit, Sreenath & Venkataradha, A. & Singh, Ramesh & Whitbread, Anthony M., 2021. "Impact of best management practices on sustainable crop production and climate resilience in smallholder farming systems of South Asia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    3. Rattan Lal, 2015. "Restoring Soil Quality to Mitigate Soil Degradation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-21, May.
    4. Jie Zhao & Ji Chen & Damien Beillouin & Hans Lambers & Yadong Yang & Pete Smith & Zhaohai Zeng & Jørgen E. Olesen & Huadong Zang, 2022. "Global systematic review with meta-analysis reveals yield advantage of legume-based rotations and its drivers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Hossain, Mohammad Razib & Singh, Sanjeet & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Apostu, Simona-Andreea & Bansal, Pooja, 2023. "Overcoming the shock of energy depletion for energy policy? Tracing the missing link between energy depletion, renewable energy development and decarbonization in the USA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    6. Jeetendra Prakash Aryal & Cathy R. Farnworth & Ritika Khurana & Srabashi Ray & Tek B. Sapkota & Dil Bahadur Rahut, 2020. "Does women’s participation in agricultural technology adoption decisions affect the adoption of climate‐smart agriculture? Insights from Indo‐Gangetic Plains of India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 973-990, August.
    7. Temitope Oluwaseun Ojo & Abiodun A. Ogundeji & Chijioke U. Emenike, 2022. "Does Adoption of Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Improve Food Security? A Case of Rice Farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Girish Joshi & Ranjan Dash, 2023. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Climate Investing," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(3), pages 396-407, May.
    9. Lohan, Shiv Kumar & Jat, H.S. & Yadav, Arvind Kumar & Sidhu, H.S. & Jat, M.L. & Choudhary, Madhu & Peter, Jyotsna Kiran & Sharma, P.C., 2018. "Burning issues of paddy residue management in north-west states of India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 693-706.
    10. Zuo, Alec & Hou, Lingling & Huang, Zeying, 2020. "How does farmers' current usage of crop straws influence the willingness-to-accept price to sell?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Zhihai Yang & Amin W. Mugera & Ning Yin & Yumeng Wang, 2018. "Soil conservation practices and production efficiency of smallholder farms in Central China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1517-1533, August.
    12. Dániel Fróna & János Szenderák & Mónika Harangi-Rákos, 2019. "The Challenge of Feeding the World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-18, October.
    13. Samane Ghazali & Hossein Azadi & Kristina Janečková & Petr Sklenička & Alishir Kurban & Sedef Cakir, 2021. "Indigenous knowledge about climate change and sustainability of nomadic livelihoods: understanding adaptability coping strategies," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16744-16768, November.
    14. J. Carl Ureta & Lucas Clay & Marzieh Motallebi & Joan Ureta, 2020. "Quantifying the Landscape’s Ecological Benefits—An Analysis of the Effect of Land Cover Change on Ecosystem Services," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, December.
    15. Massamba Diop & Ngonidzashe Chirinda & Adnane Beniaich & Mohamed El Gharous & Khalil El Mejahed, 2022. "Soil and Water Conservation in Africa: State of Play and Potential Role in Tackling Soil Degradation and Building Soil Health in Agricultural Lands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-29, October.
    16. Peipei Yang & Wenxu Dong & Marius Heinen & Wei Qin & Oene Oenema, 2022. "Soil Compaction Prevention, Amelioration and Alleviation Measures Are Effective in Mechanized and Smallholder Agriculture: A Meta-Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, April.
    17. Jeetendra Prakash Aryal & Tek Bahadur Sapkota & Dil Bahadur Rahut & Hom Nath Gartaula & Clare Stirling, 2022. "Gender and climate change adaptation: A case of Ethiopian farmers," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(3), pages 263-288, August.
    18. Sahrish Saeed & Muhammad Sohail Amjad Makhdum & Sofia Anwar & Muhammad Rizwan Yaseen, 2023. "Climate Change Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Feedback Hypothesis: A Comparison of Lower-Middle, Upper-Middle, and High-Income Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-25, February.
    19. Dilshad Ahmad & Malika Kanwal & Muhammad Afzal, 2023. "Climate change effects on riverbank erosion Bait community flood-prone area of Punjab, Pakistan: an application of livelihood vulnerability index," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9387-9415, September.
    20. Daniel H. Pope & Johan O. Karlsson & Phillip Baker & David McCoy, 2021. "Examining the Environmental Impacts of the Dairy and Baby Food Industries: Are First-Food Systems a Crucial Missing Part of the Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems Agenda Now Underway?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-15, December.

    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:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:8:p:718-:d:604229. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.