Open Questions and Research Needs in the Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in the Mediterranean Area

This article aims to provide a review of major challenges and research needs for the diffusion of conservation agriculture (CA) and the improvement of crop–soil–water conditions in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. A multidisciplinary study and a participatory approach are at the basis of an international project of research and innovation action, “Research-based participatory approaches for adopting conservation agriculture in the Mediterranean Area-CAMA”. It aims to understand the reasons and the research needs that limit a large CA diffusion in the Mediterranean countries. CAMA aims to provide significant advances to CA through multidisciplinary research at the field and farm scales (with main emphasis on smallholder), encompassing a socio-economic analysis of the reasons that obstacle the CA diffusion, legume crop improvement as a component of improved CA cropping systems, and a network of long-term experiments on CA and soil characteristic modification. Its results will be available to scientific and farming communities.

[1]  P. C. Sharma,et al.  Conservation Agriculture Effects on Soil Water Holding Capacity and Water-Saving Varied with Management Practices and Agroecological Conditions: A Review , 2021, Agronomy.

[2]  S. Jayaraman,et al.  Conservation Agriculture as a System to Enhance Ecosystem Services , 2021, Agriculture.

[3]  O. Kherif,et al.  Understanding the Response of Wheat-Chickpea Intercropping to Nitrogen Fertilization Using Agro-Ecological Competitive Indices under Contrasting Pedoclimatic Conditions , 2021, Agronomy.

[4]  G. Baiamonte,et al.  Determining Soil Hydraulic Properties Using Infiltrometer Techniques: An Assessment of Temporal Variability in a Long-Term Experiment under Minimum- and No-Tillage Soil Management , 2020, Sustainability.

[5]  M. Romani,et al.  Development and Proof-of-Concept Application of Genome-Enabled Selection for Pea Grain Yield under Severe Terminal Drought , 2020, International journal of molecular sciences.

[6]  M. Romani,et al.  Pea genomic selection for Italian environments , 2019, BMC Genomics.

[7]  Emanuele Barca,et al.  Application of Multivariate Analysis Techniques for Selecting Soil Physical Quality Indicators: A Case Study in Long-Term Field Experiments in Apulia (Southern Italy) , 2019, Soil Science Society of America Journal.

[8]  D. Ventrella,et al.  Effects of No-Tillage and Conventional Tillage on Physical and Hydraulic Properties of Fine Textured Soils under Winter Wheat , 2019, Water.

[9]  M. Romani,et al.  Farmer-participatory vs. conventional market-oriented breeding of inbred crops using phenotypic and genome-enabled approaches: A pea case study , 2019, Field Crops Research.

[10]  M. Iovino,et al.  BEST‐2K Method for Characterizing Dual‐Permeability Unsaturated Soils with Ponded and Tension Infiltrometers , 2019, Vadose Zone Journal.

[11]  P. Struik,et al.  Towards resilience through systems-based plant breeding. A review , 2018, Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

[12]  M. Bradford,et al.  Global meta-analysis of the relationship between soil organic matter and crop yields , 2018, SOIL.

[13]  A. Kassam,et al.  Global spread of Conservation Agriculture , 2018, International Journal of Environmental Studies.

[14]  Michele Rinaldi,et al.  Soil tillage and residues management in wheat continuous cropping in Southern Italy: A model application for agronomic and soil fertility assessment , 2017, Comput. Electron. Agric..

[15]  A. Laribi,et al.  Intercropping maize and common bean enhances microbial carbon and nitrogen availability in low phosphorus soil under Mediterranean conditions , 2017 .

[16]  K. Siddique,et al.  Light grazing of crop residues by sheep in a Mediterranean-type environment has little impact on following no-tillage crops , 2016 .

[17]  T. S. Amjath-Babu,et al.  Grain legume decline and potential recovery in European agriculture: a review , 2016, Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

[18]  Laura Bonzanigo,et al.  Conditions for the adoption of conservation agriculture in Central Morocco: an approach based on Bayesian network modelling , 2016 .

[19]  J. Lampurlanés,et al.  Long-term analysis of soil water conservation and crop yield under different tillage systems in Mediterranean rainfed conditions , 2016 .

[20]  A. Troccoli,et al.  Is it appropriate to support the farmers for adopting conservation agriculture? Economic and environmental impact assessment , 2015 .

[21]  L. Pecetti,et al.  Accuracy of genomic selection for alfalfa biomass yield in different reference populations , 2015, BMC Genomics.

[22]  J. Six,et al.  When does no-till yield more? A global meta-analysis , 2015 .

[23]  M. Rinaldi,et al.  Effects of tillage systems in durum wheat under rainfed Mediterranean conditions , 2015 .

[24]  E. Ranst,et al.  Tillage System Affects Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Quality in Central Morocco , 2014 .

[25]  C. Cantero‐Martínez,et al.  Soil organic carbon storage in a no-tillage chronosequence under Mediterranean conditions , 2014, Plant and Soil.

[26]  C. Thierfelder,et al.  Integration of conservation agriculture in smallholder farming systems of southern Africa: identification of key entry points , 2013 .

[27]  E. Ranst,et al.  Conservation agriculture in dry areas of Morocco , 2012 .

[28]  L. Pecetti,et al.  Adaptation of landrace and variety germplasm and selection strategies for lucerne in the Mediterranean basin , 2011 .

[29]  Christian Thierfelder,et al.  Investigating Conservation Agriculture (CA) Systems in Zambia and Zimbabwe to Mitigate Future Effects of Climate Change , 2010 .

[30]  K. Giller,et al.  Conservation agriculture and smallholder farming in Africa: The heretics' view , 2009 .

[31]  E. Schnug,et al.  Effect of tillage systems and P-fertilization on soil physical and chemical properties, crop yield and nutrient uptake. , 2009 .

[32]  T. Green,et al.  Tillage effects on soil hydraulic properties in space and time: State of the science , 2008 .

[33]  K. Sayre,et al.  The role of conservation agriculture in sustainable agriculture , 2008, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[34]  C. Cantero‐Martínez,et al.  Long‐term yield and water use efficiency under various tillage systems in Mediterranean rainfed conditions , 2007 .

[35]  M. Iovino,et al.  Comparison of unconfined and confined unsaturated hydraulic conductivity , 2007 .

[36]  Johan Six,et al.  Aggregate and Soil Organic Matter Dynamics under Conventional and No-Tillage Systems , 1999 .

[37]  J. Pranagal,et al.  30 years of wheat monoculture and reduced tillage and physical condition of Rendzic Phaeozem , 2021 .

[38]  Global Soil Organic Carbon Map (GSOCmap) Version 1.5 , 2020 .

[39]  L. Pecetti,et al.  Genomic selection for lucerne forage yield in different stress-prone environments , 2019 .

[40]  F. Vertes,et al.  Impacts environnementaux de l’introduction de légumineuses dans les systèmes de production , 2015 .

[41]  B. Soane,et al.  No-till in northern, western and south-western Europe: A review of problems and opportunities for crop production and the environment , 2012 .

[42]  J. Lamachère,et al.  Effets du travail du sol et de la gestion des résidus sur les propriétés du sol et sur l'érosion hydrique d'un Vertisol Méditerranéen , 2011, Canadian Journal of Soil Science.

[43]  B. Govaerts,et al.  How conservation agriculture can contribute to buffering climate change. , 2010 .

[44]  C. Cantero-Mart¡nez.  Evaluation of agricultural practices to improve efficiency and environment conservation in Mediterranean arid and semi-arid production systems: MEDRATE project , 2004 .