Innovative management programme reduces environmental impacts in Chinese vegetable production

Xiaozhong Wang; Zhengxia Dou; Xiaojun Shi; Chunqin Zou; Dunyi Liu; Zhengyin Wang; Xilin Guan; Yixiang Sun; Gang Wu; Baige Zhang; Junliang Li; Bin Liang; Li Tang; Lihua Jiang; Zhimei Sun; Jungang Yang; Dongxia Si; Huan Zhao; Bin Liu; Wei Zhang; Fen Zhang; Fusuo Zhang; Xinping Chen

doi:10.1038/s43016-020-00199-0

Innovative management programme reduces environmental impacts in Chinese vegetable production

Nat Food. 2021 Jan;2(1):47-53. doi: 10.1038/s43016-020-00199-0. Epub 2020 Dec 21.

Authors

Xiaozhong Wang^#^{1

2

3}, Zhengxia Dou^#⁴, Xiaojun Shi^{1

2}, Chunqin Zou³, Dunyi Liu^{1

2}, Zhengyin Wang¹, Xilin Guan³, Yixiang Sun⁵, Gang Wu⁵, Baige Zhang⁶, Junliang Li⁷, Bin Liang⁷, Li Tang⁸, Lihua Jiang⁹, Zhimei Sun¹⁰, Jungang Yang¹¹, Dongxia Si¹², Huan Zhao¹³, Bin Liu¹, Wei Zhang^{1

14}, Fen Zhang¹, Fusuo Zhang^{15

16}, Xinping Chen^{17

18}

Affiliations

¹ College of Resources and Environment, and Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
² Interdisciplinary Research Center for Agriculture Green Development in Yangtze River Basin, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
³ College of Resources & Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
⁴ Center for Animal Health and Productivity, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁵ Soil & Fertilizer Research Institute, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei, China.
⁶ Vegetable Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
⁷ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Qingdao Agriculture University, Qingdao, China.
⁸ College of Resources and Environmental Science, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China.
⁹ Shandong Agricultural Resource and Environmental Science Research Institute, Jinan, China.
¹⁰ College of Resources & Environmental Sciences, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, China.
¹¹ Institute of Plant Nutrition and Resource, Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forest Science, Beijing, China.
¹² Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China.
¹³ Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang, China.
¹⁴ Chongqing Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
¹⁵ Interdisciplinary Research Center for Agriculture Green Development in Yangtze River Basin, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. chenxp2017@swu.edu.cn.
¹⁶ College of Resources & Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. chenxp2017@swu.edu.cn.
¹⁷ College of Resources and Environment, and Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. zhangfs@cau.edu.cn.
¹⁸ Interdisciplinary Research Center for Agriculture Green Development in Yangtze River Basin, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. zhangfs@cau.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 37117651
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-020-00199-0

Abstract

China produces half of the world's vegetables. The production uses 1.7% of the global harvest area of crops but accounts for 7.8% of the chemical fertilizers and 6.6% of crop-sourced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. Using an innovative management programme, the integrated knowledge and products strategy (IKPS), we demonstrate opportunities for producing more vegetables with lower environmental impacts in China's vegetable production systems. Combining soil-crop system management practices with enhanced-efficiency fertilizer products, IKPS was tested through 54 site-year field experiments in China's major agro-ecological zones by a national research network over 12 years. Compared with current farming practices, the adoption of IKPS decreased the nitrogen (N) application rate by 38%, N surplus by 65% and GHG emissions by 28%, while increasing yield by 17%. Scenario analyses showed that adoption of IKPS in China's vegetable production could mitigate resource and environmental burdens while enhancing food and nutrition security.