Diversifying crop rotation increases food production, reduces net greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil health

Abstract Global food production faces challenges in balancing the need for increased yields with environmental sustainability. This study presents a six-year field experiment in the North China Plain, demonstrating the benefits of diversifying traditional cereal monoculture (wheat–maize) with cash crops (sweet potato) and legumes (peanut and soybean). The diversified rotations increase equivalent yield by up to 38%, reduce N 2 O emissions by 39%, and improve the system’s greenhouse gas balance by 88%. Furthermore, including legumes in crop rotations stimulates soil microbial activities, increases soil organic carbon stocks by 8%, and enhances soil health (indexed with the selected soil physiochemical and…

• DG
  Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 32071975, 52239002, 41830751
• CA
  China Agricultural University