Indicators of ecological sustainability for different agricultural sequences in the Pampean region of Argentina
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/am.v33i3.49284Keywords:
carbon balance, nutrient balance, biomass, water use efficiency, yieldAbstract
Introduction. The intensification of agriculture with soybeans (Glycine max L.) as the main component of the productive system causes significant damage to the soil of Argentina and many other parts of the world. Objective. To evaluate the ecological sustainability of four agricultural sequences, under different management of their fallows. Materials and methods. The trial was carried out at the J. Hirschhorn Experimental Station of the Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (34º 52´ LS, 57º 58´ LO), Buenos Aires, Argentina, where since 2011 four crop sequences have been worked with and, as of 2015, with four different managements of its fallows (control, compost, cover crop without fertilizer and cover crop plus fertilizer). For the sustainability evaluation, five indicators were used: N, P, S, and carbon balance, as well as water use efficiency. The sustainability index was also calculated. Results. The barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) / soybean (Glicine max L.) 2nd - corn (Zea mays L.) - soybean - wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) sequence was the one with the highest sustainability under three of the four management systems. The sequence wheat / soybean 2nd - soybean - soybean - wheat was the one with the lest sustainability for all of the management approaches. Conclusion. The analyzed sequences presented differences in ecological sustainability, which indicates the importance of choosing its components in the search to improve the sustainability of agroecosystems. The use of cover crops in fallows improved sustainability, when associated with greater use of fertilizers and when it was not. The use of compost had a smaller immediate effect since only in the sequence with the highest frequency of soybeans did it produce improvements in sustainability.
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