The rapid increase in chemical fertilizer use over the past century has greatly benefited crop production. However, fertilizer overloading has led to a series of environmental problems, including greenhouse gas emissions and water eutrophication, etc. Managing the supply and utilization of nutrients to sustainably increase crop yields whilst minimizing impacts on other ecosystem services, such as clean water and air, biodiversity, and C sequestration, is, therefore, a major challenge. Researchers have been making efforts to improve sustainable nutrient management strategies for decades, aiming at more efficient use of mineral fertilizers, increased recovery and recycling of waste nutrients, and better exploitation of the substantial inorganic and organic reserves of nutrients in soil. However, the historic and current management and utilization of N, P, and C supplies in agroecosystems remains inefficient and will continue to be unless fundamental changes are made to agronomic practices. This step change in practice needs to be scientifically underpinned by an improvement in our mechanistic understanding of nutrient cycling in soil and cropping systems and a better understanding of behavior change and the barriers and opportunities facing farmers.
This Research Topic will collect new approaches to measure, model, and better manage nutrient cycling in agriculture in support of the development of sustainable and profitable farming systems that safeguard our future food security with minimal environmental impact, and contribute to the solution to the conflicts and trade-offs between increased production and environmental impact.
Some of the main aspects of this Research Topic include, but are not limited to:
• Novel tracing technologies applied in nutrient cycling in agroecosystems
• Novel fertilizer and alternative sources of nutrients
• Wastes recycling technologies (e.g. struvite), manure and crop residue utilization
• Advanced fertilization approaches and technologies
• Approaches mining and activating unavailable nutrients from the soil
• Approaches to optimize nutrient uptake and use efficiency of crops
• The cycling of soil nutrients and the microbial mechanism
• Multidisciplinary studies on nutrient dynamics and cycling in agroecosystems
The rapid increase in chemical fertilizer use over the past century has greatly benefited crop production. However, fertilizer overloading has led to a series of environmental problems, including greenhouse gas emissions and water eutrophication, etc. Managing the supply and utilization of nutrients to sustainably increase crop yields whilst minimizing impacts on other ecosystem services, such as clean water and air, biodiversity, and C sequestration, is, therefore, a major challenge. Researchers have been making efforts to improve sustainable nutrient management strategies for decades, aiming at more efficient use of mineral fertilizers, increased recovery and recycling of waste nutrients, and better exploitation of the substantial inorganic and organic reserves of nutrients in soil. However, the historic and current management and utilization of N, P, and C supplies in agroecosystems remains inefficient and will continue to be unless fundamental changes are made to agronomic practices. This step change in practice needs to be scientifically underpinned by an improvement in our mechanistic understanding of nutrient cycling in soil and cropping systems and a better understanding of behavior change and the barriers and opportunities facing farmers.
This Research Topic will collect new approaches to measure, model, and better manage nutrient cycling in agriculture in support of the development of sustainable and profitable farming systems that safeguard our future food security with minimal environmental impact, and contribute to the solution to the conflicts and trade-offs between increased production and environmental impact.
Some of the main aspects of this Research Topic include, but are not limited to:
• Novel tracing technologies applied in nutrient cycling in agroecosystems
• Novel fertilizer and alternative sources of nutrients
• Wastes recycling technologies (e.g. struvite), manure and crop residue utilization
• Advanced fertilization approaches and technologies
• Approaches mining and activating unavailable nutrients from the soil
• Approaches to optimize nutrient uptake and use efficiency of crops
• The cycling of soil nutrients and the microbial mechanism
• Multidisciplinary studies on nutrient dynamics and cycling in agroecosystems
