Modern Wheat Varieties as a Driver of the Degradation of Spanish Rainfed Mediterranean Agroecosystems throughout the 20th Century
| Autor: | Guiomar Carranza-Gallego, Juan Infante-Amate, Inma Villa, Manuel González de Molina, Gloria I. Guzmán, Eduardo Aguilera, David Soto, Antonio J. Herrera |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Agroecosystem Mediterranean climate roots NPP biomass partitioning Geography Planning and Development Biodiversity TJ807-830 Management Monitoring Policy and Law TD194-195 01 natural sciences 7. Clean energy Renewable energy sources Soil retrogression and degradation GE1-350 2. Zero hunger Biomass (ecology) Environmental effects of industries and plants Renewable Energy Sustainability and the Environment business.industry landraces 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences 15. Life on land Soil quality Environmental sciences Agronomy Agriculture varietal change 040103 agronomy & agriculture 0401 agriculture forestry and fisheries Environmental science Biomass partitioning business 010606 plant biology & botany |
| Zdroj: | Sustainability Volume 10 Issue 10 Sustainability, Vol 10, Iss 10, p 3724 (2018) |
| ISSN: | 2071-1050 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/su10103724 |
| Popis: | The high grain yield of modern varieties (MV) respond to the increase in fossil-based inputs, and the widespread belief that they are more productive than old varieties (OV) is biased. This belief focuses only on marketable biomass, without considering the consequences on agroecosystem sustainability of the reductions in other portions of NPP. Additionally, field comparisons of OV and MV were normally conducted under industrialized farming conditions, which is detrimental for OV performance. Both trials carried out in this study comparing wheat OV and MV show that, under Mediterranean rainfed conditions and traditional organic management, aerial and belowground biomass production of OV is higher than that of MV, without significantly decreasing yield and enabling a better competition against weeds. From the data of our trials, bibliographic review and information from historical sources, we have reconstructed the NPP and destinations of biomass of Spanish wheat fields (1900&ndash 2000). Varietal replacement entailed the reduction in residues and unharvested biomass (UhB), which involved soil degradation in rainfed cereal fields and undermining heterotrophic trophic webs. Our results suggest that OV can increase the sustainability of rainfed Mediterranean agroecosystems at present through the improvement of soil quality, the reduction of herbicides use, and the recovery of biodiversity. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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