Identifying synergistic solutions for the food-energy-water nexus via plastic film mulching cultivation

Li Zhang; Yifan Yang; Zhansheng Li; Feng-Min Li; Jie Huang; Feng Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171046

Identifying synergistic solutions for the food-energy-water nexus via plastic film mulching cultivation

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Apr 10:920:171046. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171046. Epub 2024 Feb 16.

Authors

Li Zhang¹, Yifan Yang², Zhansheng Li³, Feng-Min Li², Jie Huang⁴, Feng Zhang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
³ Asia Hub, Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, Hainan 572000, China.
⁴ Animal Husbandry, Pasture and Green Agriculture Institute, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730070, China. Electronic address: angeltest@126.com.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agroecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China. Electronic address: zhangfeng@lzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38369151
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171046

Abstract

Food security, water scarcity, and excessive fossil energy use pose considerable challenges to sustainable agriculture. To understand how rain-fed farming systems on the Loess Plateau, China, reconcile yield increases with ecological conservation, we conducted an integrated evaluation based on the denitrification-decomposition (DNDC) model, agricultural statistics data using the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus indicator. The results showed that maize yields with ridge-furrow plastic film mulching (PFM) were 3479, 8942, and 11,124 kg ha^-1 under low (50 kg N ha^-1), medium (200 kg N ha^-1), and high (350 kg N ha^-1) nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates, respectively, and that PFM increased yield and water use efficiency (WUE) by 110-253 % and 166-205 % compared to using no mulching (control, CK), respectively. Plastic film mulching also increased net energy (126-436 %), energy use efficiency (81-578 %), energy productivity (100-670 %), and energy profitability (126-994 %), and nitrogen fertilizer, compound fertilizer, and diesel fuel consumption by agricultural machinery were the main energy inputs. The PFM system reduced water consumption during the maize growing season and the green water footprint and gray water footprint decreased by 66-74 % and 44-68 %, respectively. The FEW nexus indicator, based on a high production at low environmental cost scenario, was greater under the PFM system and had the widest spatial distribution area at the medium-N application rate. Among the environmental factors, the nexus indicator was negatively correlated with precipitation (-0.37), air temperature (-0.36), and the aridity index (-0.36), but positively correlated with elevation (0.17). Our results suggest that the PFM system promotes resource-saving while increasing yields and moves dryland agriculture in an environmentally friendly direction, thus promoting the sustainable development of agroecosystems.

Keywords: Denitrification-decomposition model; Energy budget; Food-energy-water nexus indicator; Maize yield; Water footprint.

MeSH terms

Agriculture / methods
China
Fertilizers
Nitrogen / analysis
Plastics
Soil*
Water* / analysis
Zea mays

Substances

Soil
Water
Fertilizers
Nitrogen
Plastics