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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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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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.
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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 Figs. 1–8 and Tables 1–5.
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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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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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00199-0
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