Livestock integration into soybean systems improves long-term system stability and profits without compromising crop yields

Pedro Arthur de Albuquerque Nunes,Emilio Andrés Laca,Taise Robinson Kunrath,William de Souza Filho,Amélie Gaudin,Paulo César de Faccio Carvalho,Meng Li,Amanda Posselt Martins

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-81270-z

Pedro Arthur de Albuquerque Nunes, Emilio Andrés Laca + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81270-z

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Abstract

Climate models project greater weather variability over the coming decades. High yielding systems that can maintain stable crop yields under variable environmental scenarios are critical to enhance food security. However, the effect of adding a trophic level (i.e. herbivores) on the long-term stability of agricultural systems is not well understood. We used a 16-year dataset from an integrated soybean-beef cattle experiment to measure the impacts of grazing on the stability of key crop, pasture, animal and whole-system outcomes. Treatments consisted of four grazing intensities (10, 20, 30 and 40 cm sward height) on mixed black oat (Avena strigosa) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) pastures and an ungrazed control. Stability of both human-digestible protein production and profitability increased at moderate to light grazing intensities, while over-intensification or absence of grazing decreased system stability. Grazing did not affect subsequent soybean yields but reduced the chance of crop failure and financial loss in unfavorable years. At both lighter and heavier grazing intensities, tradeoffs occurred between the stability of herbage production and animal live weight gains. We show that ecological intensification of specialized soybean systems using livestock integration can increase system stability and profitability, but the probability of win–win outcomes depends on management.

Highlights

Climate models project greater weather variability over the coming decades
Our results provide insight into the long-term stability of subtropical soybean systems performance and the potential of livestock integration to build up sustainability and resilience in agriculture
Addition of cattle to the system increased total human-digestible protein production by up to 13% (p = 0.065, Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Climate models project greater weather variability over the coming decades. High yielding systems that can maintain stable crop yields under variable environmental scenarios are critical to enhance food security. Production of domestic animals and crops have been interconnected since the early days of agriculture and integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) remain the cornerstone of smallholding systems and global food s ecurity[1,2,3] These systems are characterized by cropland grazing and usage of services provided by animals (e.g., nutrient recycling and weed control) to reduce input needs and enhance crop y ields[4,5]. Million ha currently cultivated with summer cash crops in the region (soybean, maize and rice), only 2.5 million ha are rotated with winter cash crops and 2.2 million ha with off-season m aize[25], while the rest often has winter cover crops in no-till systems which could be grazed[23] Considering that this is the Brazilian region with the highest levels of ICLS adoption (13% of the total area cultivated with crops is integrated with livestock)[26], there is a large unexplored potential for ICLS implementation. Implementing commercial-scale ICLS is a complex challenge[27] and concerns over the impact of livestock on subsequent crop yields and the greater managerial intensity and knowledge demanded by ICLS have been listed as the main barriers to a doption[23,28,29,30]

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