Abstract
Mixed crop–livestock long-term experiments (LTE) are critical to increase the understanding of sustainability in complex agroecosystems. One example is the ‘Palo a Pique’ LTE which has been running for 25 years in Uruguay (from 1995 to present), evaluating four pasture–crop rotations under livestock grazing with no-till technology in soils with severe limitations. The results demonstrate that cropping systems reduced soil organic carbon (SOC) compared with permanent pastures, and that perennial pastures rotating with crops were critical to mitigate SOC losses. Data from the ‘Palo a Pique’ LTE has contributed to the establishment of new national policies to secure the sustainability of agricultural-based systems. Although the original purpose of the LTE was oriented to crops and soils, a demand for sustainable livestock intensification has gathered momentum over recent years. As a result, the current approach of the ‘Palo a Pique’ LTE matches each pasture–crop rotation with the most suitable livestock strategy with the common goal of producing 400 kg liveweight/ha per year. General approaches to the pursuit of sustainable livestock intensification include shortening the cycle of production, diversifying animal categories, increasing liveweight gain and final animal liveweight, and strategic livestock supplementation. Prediction of trade-offs between environmental, economic, and production indicators can be addressed through monitoring and modeling, enabling the timely anticipation of adverse sustainability issues on commercial farms. The ‘Palo a Pique’ LTE serves as a framework to address contemporary and future questions dealing with the role of ruminants on climate change, competition for land, nutrient dynamics, and food security.
Highlights
Long-term experiments are critical to increase our understanding of the sustainability of agroecosystems [1], where sustainability must be tackled across its three core dimensions, i.e., economic, environmental and societal [2]
Based on the results obtained from Phases I and II of the ‘Palo a Pique’ long-term experiments (LTE), pasture–crop rotations with no-till are sustainable systems under the Uruguayan productive conditions, even when most of the aerial biomass is harvested and exported by direct grazing
Data have shown the importance of no-till technology, crop diversification, biomass residuals returned to the soil, and the inclusion of perennial grasses and legumes, as key factors to assure the sustainability of pasture–crop rotations in soils with high risk of erosion
Summary
Long-term experiments are critical to increase our understanding of the sustainability of agroecosystems [1], where sustainability must be tackled across its three core dimensions, i.e., economic, environmental and societal [2]. Low productivity of natural grasslands, increased crop yield after a period of seeded pastures and reduction of soil erosion were the main reasons for the adoption of pasture–crop rotation under no-till technology in Uruguay in the second half of the 20th century [12]. These researchers pointed out the need for a LTE, as the cumulative effects of no-till pasture–crop rotations in grain yield and soil fertility need to be observed over extended periods and are affected by climatic variability. To answer this question, they set up the ‘Palo a Pique’ LTE, which continues today as one of the longest running pasture–crop LTEs in the world.
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