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Crop cover is more important than rotational diversity for soil multifunctionality and cereal yields in European cropping systems

Nature Food volume 2, pages 28–37 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

In natural ecosystems, positive effects of plant diversity on ecosystem functioning have been widely observed, yet whether this is true in cropping systems remains unclear. Here we assessed the impact of crop diversification on soil microbial diversity, soil multifunctionality (SMF) and crop yields in 155 cereal fields across a 3,000 km north–south European gradient. Overall, crop diversity showed a relatively minor effect on soil microbial diversity, SMF and yields. In contrast, the proportion of time with crop cover (including cash crops, cover crops or forage leys) during the past ten-year crop rotation had a much stronger impact. This suggests that increasing crop cover can enhance both yields and soil functioning, while also providing habitat for soil microorganisms. We found that SMF did not positively contribute to crop yields, highlighting that care must be taken to balance the provision of food with environmentally beneficial functions and services, since they do not always go hand in hand.

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Fig. 1: Crop covers and diversity types commonly used in temperate cropping systems.
Fig. 2: Crop species richness by country and crop type.
Fig. 3: Distribution of crop cover in each country over a ten-year crop rotation.
Fig. 4: Relationship between crop diversity and crop cover across our sampling network.
Fig. 5: The impact of agricultural management practices on bacterial diversity, crop yield and SMF.
Fig. 6: Structural equation model showing the effects of environmental and anthropogenic management factors on soil microbial diversity, SMF and crop yield.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available here: figshare.com/articles/dataset/Garland_et_al_Nat_Food_dataset_figshare_xlsx/10067999.

Code availability

The code used to analyse the data is available here: figshare.com/articles/online_resource/Garland_et_al_Nat_Food_R_Code_Figshare_docx/12618941.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the farmers and farm managers for allowing us to sample their fields and for completing our detailed questionnaires. We also thank A. Held, A. Bonvicini, S. Müller, S. Zhao, V. Somerville, A. Brugger, O. Scholz, D. Bugmann, R. Heiz, B. Seitz and M. Roser for help with both field work and laboratory analyses. The Digging Deeper project was funded through the 2015–2016 BiodivERsA COg call for research proposals, with the national funders Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 31BD30-172466), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (317895346), Swedish Research Council Formas contract 2016-0194), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Digging_Deeper, reference PCIN-2016-028) and Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, France, grant ANR-16-EBI3-0004-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant–Soil Interactions Group, Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland

    Gina Garland, Anna Edlinger, Samiran Banerjee, Chantal Herzog & Marcel G. A. van der Heijden

  2. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Anna Edlinger, Chantal Herzog & Marcel G. A. van der Heijden

  3. Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Florine Degrune & Matthias C. Rillig

  4. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, Berlin, Germany

    Florine Degrune & Matthias C. Rillig

  5. Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Spain

    Pablo García-Palacios & David S. Pescador

  6. Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain

    Pablo García-Palacios

  7. INRAE, AgroSup Dijon, Department of Agroecology, University Bourgogne Franche Comte, Dijon, France

    Sana Romdhane, Ayme Spor & Laurent Philippot

  8. Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Aurélien Saghai & Sara Hallin

  9. Fredericton Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

    Cameron Wagg

  10. Departamento de Ecología, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain

    Fernando T. Maestre

  11. Instituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio ‘Ramón Margalef’, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain

    Fernando T. Maestre

Authors
  1. Gina Garland
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Contributions

M.G.A.v.d.H., M.C.R., S.H., F.T.M. and L.P. designed the study and obtained research funding. G.G., A.E., S.B., F.D., P.G-P., D.S.P., C.H., S.R., A. Spor and A. Saghai contributed to data collection and analysis. G.G. and C.W. contributed to data analysis and interpretation. G.G. drafted the manuscript, with significant contributions to the writing from all coauthors. All authors commented on and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marcel G. A. van der Heijden.

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Garland, G., Edlinger, A., Banerjee, S. et al. Crop cover is more important than rotational diversity for soil multifunctionality and cereal yields in European cropping systems. Nat Food 2, 28–37 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00210-8

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