Optimizing cover cropping application for sustainable crop production
Cover cropping is a key strategy in sustainable agriculture but faces adoption barriers due to perceived yield risks and uncertain environmental benefits. Through a global meta-analysis of 3160 observations from 271 studies, we assessed the impacts of cover crops on soil organic carbon (SOC), crop yield, and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Results showed that legume and non-legume cover crops increased SOC by 5.9 and 4.0%, respectively. Legume cover crops enhanced yield by 16.0% but raised N2O emissions by 36.2%, which can be mitigated by integrating practices like no-tillage, deficit irrigation, and diversified crop rotations. The greatest benefits in SOC and yield from legume cover crops were observed in farming systems with low nitrogen fertilizer, low crop diversity (especially cereal-dominated systems), and low initial SOC, under humid and warm climates. Incorporating legume cover crops brings co-benefits for both SOC and yield but the trade-offs in N2O emissions should be deliberated.
Authors
- Tianyi Qiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5778-0592)
- Annette Cowie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3858-959X)
- Shuaixiang Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6168-4133)
- Bo Yi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8674-4400)
- Qinsi He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9585-3716)
- Qiang Yu
- Alfredo Huete (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2809-2376)
- Lijie Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2290-3983)
- Chaoqun Lü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-0513)
- De Li Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2574-1908)
- Kadambot H. M. Siddique (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6097-4235)
- Yu Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3153-1587)
- Lin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8014-8296)
Institutions
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (CN)
- Iowa State University (US)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Wuhan University of Technology (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (AU)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (CN)
- Yangzhou University (CN)
- Northwest A&F University (CN)
- University of New England (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Sustainable Agriculture
- Published
- 2025-03-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-025-00050-8
- Citations
- 21
- Primary Topic
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 24.91
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China