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Innovative management programme reduces environmental impacts in Chinese vegetable production

Nature Food volume 2, pages 47–53 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

China produces half of the world’s vegetables. The production uses 1.7% of the global harvest area of crops but accounts for 7.8% of the chemical fertilizers and 6.6% of crop-sourced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. Using an innovative management programme, the integrated knowledge and products strategy (IKPS), we demonstrate opportunities for producing more vegetables with lower environmental impacts in China’s vegetable production systems. Combining soil–crop system management practices with enhanced-efficiency fertilizer products, IKPS was tested through 54 site-year field experiments in China’s major agro-ecological zones by a national research network over 12 years. Compared with current farming practices, the adoption of IKPS decreased the nitrogen (N) application rate by 38%, N surplus by 65% and GHG emissions by 28%, while increasing yield by 17%. Scenario analyses showed that adoption of IKPS in China’s vegetable production could mitigate resource and environmental burdens while enhancing food and nutrition security.

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Fig. 1: Harvest area, chemical fertilizer consumption and GHG emissions of Chinese vegetable production.
Fig. 2: Conceptual framework for the IKPS programme.
Fig. 3: Analysis of projected Chinese vegetable production by 2030 based on various scenarios.

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Data availability

All of the data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially sponsored by the State Cultivation Base of Eco-agriculture for Southwest Mountainous Land (Southwest University), the Innovation Team in Priority Areas of Non-point Pollution Prevention in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFD0800403). We thank P. Vitousek (Stanford University) and J. D. Toth (University of Pennsylvania) for valuable comments and language editing assistance.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Xiaozhong Wang, Zhengxia Dou

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources and Environment, and Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Xiaozhong Wang, Xiaojun Shi, Dunyi Liu, Zhengyin Wang, Bin Liu, Wei Zhang, Fen Zhang & Xinping Chen

  2. Interdisciplinary Research Center for Agriculture Green Development in Yangtze River Basin, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Xiaozhong Wang, Xiaojun Shi, Dunyi Liu, Fusuo Zhang & Xinping Chen

  3. College of Resources & Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Xiaozhong Wang, Chunqin Zou, Xilin Guan & Fusuo Zhang

  4. Center for Animal Health and Productivity, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA

    Zhengxia Dou

  5. Soil & Fertilizer Research Institute, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei, China

    Yixiang Sun & Gang Wu

  6. Vegetable Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Baige Zhang

  7. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Qingdao Agriculture University, Qingdao, China

    Junliang Li & Bin Liang

  8. College of Resources and Environmental Science, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China

    Li Tang

  9. Shandong Agricultural Resource and Environmental Science Research Institute, Jinan, China

    Lihua Jiang

  10. College of Resources & Environmental Sciences, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, China

    Zhimei Sun

  11. Institute of Plant Nutrition and Resource, Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forest Science, Beijing, China

    Jungang Yang

  12. Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China

    Dongxia Si

  13. Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang, China

    Huan Zhao

  14. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Wei Zhang

Authors
  1. Xiaozhong Wang
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Contributions

X.C. and Fusuo Zhang designed the research. X.W., X.S., C.Z., Z.W., B.Z., Y.S., J.L., B. Liang, L.T., L.J., Z.S., J.Y., X.G., D.S., B. Liu, G.W. and H.Z. conducted the field experiments. X.W., X.G., D.L., Fen Zhang, W.Z. and B. Liu collected and analysed the data. X.C., X.W. and Z.D. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Fusuo Zhang or Xinping Chen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Food thanks David Makowski, Paul Kristiansen and Steffanie Scott for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–8 and Tables 1–5.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Data 1

Supplementary reference lists for the database of vitamin C concentrations in different vegetables (edible parts only) in China; the database of establishing NH3 volatilization models for open-field and greenhouse systems; and N2O emissions, N leaching and NH3 volatilization from EEFs including nitrification inhibitor and controlled-release fertilizer.

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Cite this article

Wang, X., Dou, Z., Shi, X. et al. Innovative management programme reduces environmental impacts in Chinese vegetable production. Nat Food 2, 47–53 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00199-0

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