Abstract
BackgroundAgrochemicals, such as pesticides and fertilizers used in the current conventional agriculture (CA), have contaminating effects on environments as well as food, which pose significant risks to non-target organisms and even human health. Under these environmental pressures, ecological agriculture (EA), using organic fertilizer for crop growth, was developed without pesticides to substitute CA gradually worldwide. However, EA has still not become popular in the Chinese mountain area. To identify the major factors that influence the application of EA, rice cultivation between EA and CA was compared by analyzing soil physical–chemical properties, and soil bacterial and plant diversity in Chongqing. Besides, in considering the economic benefits of small-scale paddy ecosystem, net present value (NPV) method was applied for quantification and evaluation between EA and CA.ResultsThe rice yield of EA (3700 kg/ha) was significantly lower than that of CA (7500 kg/ha). Soil total nitrogen (TN, 2.24 ± 0.16 g/kg) and available potassium (AK, 70.67 ± 9.88 mg/kg) in CA were higher than those in EA, with amounts of 1.45 ± 0.18 g/kg (TN) and 54.00 ± 5.89 mg/kg (AK). Soil organic matter (SOM) of CA (55.6 ± 5.8 g/kg) was distinctly higher than that of EA (24.4 ± 1.43 g/kg), whereas pore water DOC concentration in EA (71.11 ± 7.28 mg/L) was higher than that in CA (61.07 ± 6.61 mg/L). Plant richness, bacterial diversity of ACE and Chao1 in EA were significantly higher than in CA (P < 0.05). The net present value (NPV) of EA was 3.72 CNY/m2, which was higher than that of CA (2.98 CNY/m2).ConclusionsThe relative high amounts of AP, pore water DOC and bacterial diversity revealed the improvement of soil properties by EA. Limitations on N and AK may be responsible for the low yield in small-scale EA of the current study. In addition, economic benefits, plant richness and bacterial diversity suggested EA application in China as well as worldwide to facilitate the sustainable development of the agroecosystem. However, animal diversity and quantification on economic benefits of ecological services should be considered in further research to promote the sustainability development of the agroecosystem.
Highlights
Agrochemicals, such as pesticides and fertilizers used in the current conventional agriculture (CA), have contaminating effects on environments as well as food, which pose significant risks to non-target organisms and even human health
The rice paddies distributed between the riverbank and ecological agriculture (EA) are cultivated by the CA approach, where the altitude is lower than EA
dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration of EA (71.11 ± 7.28 mg/L) was higher than that of CA (61.07 ± 6.61 mg/L), implying that a relatively high amount of organic compounds was transformed from solid phase to liquid phase
Summary
Agrochemicals, such as pesticides and fertilizers used in the current conventional agriculture (CA), have contaminating effects on environments as well as food, which pose significant risks to non-target organisms and even human health. Agrochemicals including chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as one of the main technology transfer initiatives in the green revolution, were combined with modernization management techniques in conventional agriculture (CA) and saved more than one billion people from starvation during this period [2] With these CA initiatives there has been a focus on agrochemical pollution in recent years, with the improvement of public environmental awareness [3]. Data from Tillman et al showed that the world pesticide consumption increased nearly three times from 1960 to 1990 [4], and the total fertilizer production in the world increased more than six times from 1961 (33.6 tons/years) to 2014 (207.98 tons/years) [5] Utilization of such agrochemicals have contaminating effect on soil, air, surface and groundwater and food, which pose significant risks to non-target organisms ranging from microorganisms, to insects, plants, vertebrates, and even human health [6]. Given these environmental and societal pressure, optimization or alteration of CA to reduce agrochemical contamination becomes an urgent issue for the related scientific communities, governments and publics [8]
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