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172842

Encourage farmers to adopt sustainable water and nutrient management in arid agroecosystems: problems, solutions and future studies

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Last updated: 24 Dec 2024

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Abstract

Crop production is seriously threatened by drought. Greater availability of nitrogen and phosphorus through intercropping with grain legumes and incubation with Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB) can alleviate the negative effect of water stress on some crops. However, row crop-grain legume intercropping and using PSB bacteria is not welcomed or widely accepted by smallholder farmers in arid regions. The problem is that N-fixation by grain legumes cannot complementarily satisfy nitrogen demand of row crop especially in low phosphorus soils of these regions under restricted irrigation. The efficiency of PSB bacteria also is very low in the alkaline soil of this region.  It suggests that some amount of nitrogen fertilizer should be used in this intercropping system. Nitrogen also consumption improves the efficiency of PSB bacteria. So, consumption of some nitrogen, and incubation with PSB bacteria meet entirely the need for phosphorus fertilizer. Significant water saving by restricting irrigation without significant yield loss in row crop and grain legumes can be regarded as an advantage of this method.  So, farmers can cultivate more land with the same amount of water. In such a situation, even small foliage of the grain legumes, as green manure can convince the farmers to use the row crop -grain legumes intercropping system even under restricted irrigation conditions. Futures studies must focus on a better understanding of competition and facilitation of two crops for water and nutrients. They also must pay attention to nitrogen × PSB bacteria, and Phosphorus × rhizobacteria synergic interactions on yield of and sources use efficiency of both crops. These studies may help to better water and plant nutrition management in a way that is environmentally safe and economical for farmers.

DOI

10.21608/ejar.2021.68612.1096

Keywords

arid regions, agro-ecology, fertilizer, Irrigation, organic farming

Authors

First Name

Hadi

Last Name

Sareban

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Department of Agronomy, Islamic Azad University, Gonabad Branch, Gonabad, Iran

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Ahad

Last Name

Madani

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Agronomy, Islamic Azad University, Gonabad Branch, Gonabad, Iran

Email

ahad1360madani@gmail.com

City

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Orcid

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First Name

Farshid

Last Name

Vazin

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Agronomy, Islamic Azad University, Gonabad Branch, Gonabad, Iran

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City

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Orcid

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Volume

99

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

25125

Issue Date

2021-07-01

Receive Date

2021-03-19

Publish Date

2021-07-01

Page Start

136

Page End

141

Print ISSN

1110-6336

Online ISSN

2812-4936

Link

https://ejar.journals.ekb.eg/article_172842.html

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https://ejar.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=172842

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1

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,041

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research

Publication Link

https://ejar.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Encourage farmers to adopt sustainable water and nutrient management in arid agroecosystems: problems, solutions and future studies

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023