Main authors: Luis Garrote, David Santillán, Ana Iglesias
iSQAPERiS Editor: Jane Brandt
Source document: Garrote L., Santillán D., Iglesias A. (2018) Report on key management practices affecting soil quality and their applicability in various farming systems. iSQAPER Project Deliverable 7.2 140 pp

 

Contents table
1. Effect of key management practices on soil ecosystem services 
2. Effect of agricultural management practices in selected crops  
3. Variability of the projected effects of changes in agricultural management practices on soil ecosystem services  

Note: Because of the number and size of figures on this page, it is sometimes difficult to see the details of the legends. See the »full report for original versions of all figures. Some figures that were separated into two parts in the full report have been combined here. For example Figure 26 and 27 in the original report have been combined into Figure 26.

Table 6. Codes used to identify the cropping pattern and agro-climatic regions in all figures

Cropping pattern Code  Region EU Code  Region CN Code 
Cereals Ce  Boreal  Bor  Continental-Cold CnC 
Rice Ri  Continental-North CoN  Continental-Temperate CnT 
Maize Ma Continental-South CoS Subtropical-Wet StW
Soybean Sb Atlantic-North AtN Steppe-Plateau StP
Vegetables Vg Atlantic-Central AtC Steppe Stp
Pasture Pa Atlantic-South AtS Desertic Des
Permanent crops Pc Alpine Alp    
    Mediterranean-North MdN    
    Mediterranean-South MdS    

1. Effect of key management practices on soil ecosystem services

We first provide a global overview of the results. For each management practice, global results are summarized in a radar chart for each soil quality indicators showing the mean values of the response ratio for the seven farming systems. Each zones is displayed as a solid line in different colour. We present in separate groups the results obtained for Europe and China.

These charts allow easy analysis of variability among different farming systems and soil quality indicators. The size of the chart is proportional to the positive response ratio. The variability across farming systems can be examined by analysing the shape of the chart. A regular char indicates similar behaviour for all farming systems while an irregular chart suggests differences is behaviour. The variability across regions can be analysed through the dispersion of the different lines. The charts also allow to visualize differences in behaviours between Europe and China.

  • Organic matter addition: Figure 17 shows the global results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to the management of organic matter.
  • Reduced tillage: Figure 18 shows the global results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to application of reduced tillage.
  • Crop rotation: Figure 19 shows the global results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to the rotation of crops.
  • Organic farming: Figure 20 shows the global results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to organic farming.

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Figure 17 Organic matter
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Figure 18 Reduced tillage
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Figure 19 Crop rotation
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Figure 20 Organic farming

2. Effect of agricultural management practices in selected crops

In this section we present detailed results for mean values of the three soil quality indicators for the four management practices in the seven farming system of each region of Europe and China. The results are presented in a bar chart where the average response ratios of the three soil quality indicators are compared for the regions of Europe (left) and China (right).

  • Organic matter addition: Figure 21 shows the average results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to the management of organic matter.
  • Reduced tillage: Figure 23 shows the average results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to application of reduced tillage.
  • Crop rotation: Figure 25 shows the average results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to the rotation of crops.
  • Organic farming: Figure 26 shows the average results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to organic farming.

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Figure 21
Organic matter
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Figure 23
Reduce Tillage
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Figure 25
Crop rotation
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Figure 26
Organic farming

Crop yield                  
Soil organic matter                    
Soil biodiversity                  

3. Variability of the projected effects of changes in agricultural management practices on soil ecosystem services

In this section we present the variability of the results obtained for the three soil quality indicators for the four management practices in the seven farming system of each region of Europe and China. The results are presented in a box chart that includes a line which represents the range of values (from the minimum to the maximum value) and a box centered around the mean which represents the bulk of the distribution (from the mean minus one standard deviation to the mean plus one standard deviation). We present in separate groups the results obtained for Europe and China. The results obtained for the three soil quality indicators are presented in the same line to facilitate comparison.

  • Organic matter addition: Figures 28 and 30 show the variability of the results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to the management of organic matter.  
  • Reduced tillage: Figures 32 and 33 show the variability of the results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to application of reduced tillage.
  • Crop rotation: Figures 34 and 35 show the variability of the results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to the rotation of crops.
  • Organic farming: Figures 36 and 38 show the variability of the results of the simulation of a 10% increment in agricultural practices related to the management of organic farming.

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Fig 28
Organic matter
Europe
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Fig 30
Organic matter
China
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Figure 32
Reduced tillage
Europe
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Figure 33
Reduced tillage
China
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Figure 34
Crop rotation
Europe
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Figure 35
Crop rotation
China
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Figure 36
Organic farming
Europe
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Figure 38
Organic farming
China

 


Notes:

For full references to papers quoted in this article see » References

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