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Journals
Agronomy
Special Issues
Smart Management of Organic and Conservation Agriculture
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Smart Management of Organic and Conservation Agriculture

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Innovative Cropping Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2021) | Viewed by 3478

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Andrea Peruzzi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: sustainable management of turfs; non-chemical weed control in urban and suburban areas; use of automatic mowers in turfs and agriculture; precision agriculture; smart strategies and machines for organic and conservation management of agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Christian Frasconi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: farm mechanization and farm machinery; precision agriculture; conservation agriculture; nonchemical weed control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Daniele Antichi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: sustainable agricultural systems; agroecology; cover crops; intercropping; agroforestry; conservation agriculture; organic farming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The response to a growing demand for food due to climate change and environmental risks connected to intensive agriculture requires more efficient and sustainable agroecological practices. The combination between conservation agriculture practices, such as reduced or no tillage, and organic farming management has been pointed to as a promising climate-smart agricultural strategy to provide additional benefits to soil quality and to enhance resource use efficiency compared to conventional, agrochemical-based systems. However, these systems are challenged with nutrient availability at key crop growth stages and weed/pest/pathogen pressure, which are difficult to cope with in the absence of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and an adapted direct weed control. This constrain demands technological innovation and specific knowledge advancement in order to cope with the current global challenges. Developing such advanced agroecological systems would allow us not only to provide examples of really sustainable and environment friendly agricultural systems but also would enable us to open up new fields in the agricultural sciences and stimulate inter-disciplinary studies that could benefit academia and stakeholders. In this regard, this Special Issue will deal with the "Smart Management of Organic and Conservation Agriculture". We invite experts and researchers to contribute their original research, reviews and opinion pieces covering all topics related to the implementation of conservation agriculture practices in organic systems.  

Prof. Dr. Andrea Peruzzi
Dr. Christian Frasconi
Dr. Daniele Antichi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • organic agriculture
  • conservation agriculture
  • cover crops
  • intercropping
  • non-chemical weed control
  • agricultural machinery
  • reduced tillage
  • no tillage
  • crop diversification

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 998 KiB  
Article
Poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) Intercropping with Spring Barley and with White Clover: Benefits and Competitive Effects
by Katharina Luhmer, Hanna Blum, Thorsten Kraska, Thomas Döring and Ralf Pude
Agronomy 2021, 11(5), 948; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11050948 - 11 May 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2691
Abstract
Poppy seed production is susceptible to abiotic and biotic stress and weed infestation, which introduces the risk of total crop failure. For the purpose of risk minimization, poppy was grown in additive intercropping systems with early and late sown white clover and spring [...] Read more.
Poppy seed production is susceptible to abiotic and biotic stress and weed infestation, which introduces the risk of total crop failure. For the purpose of risk minimization, poppy was grown in additive intercropping systems with early and late sown white clover and spring barley sown at three different densities in a three year field trial to assess their roles in poppy cropping while adding ecological benefits to the crop rotation. Poppy yielded between 798.7 and 1293.1 kg ha−1, with no significant yield effects of intercropping with white clover, compared to poppy sole-cropping. Dry matter, height, leaf area index and C/N ratio of the poppy plants were not significantly impacted by the clover intercrop either, independent on its sowing date. Higher poppy yields (695.6–918.8 kg ha−1) and LERs (1.11–1.84) in the poppy–barley intercrop were achieved in 2018 and 2020 compared to 2019 (≤361.5 kg ha−1, LER ≤ 0.99), mainly due to differences in seeding dates, precipitation and nutrient availability. Therefore, previous seeding of poppy limits competition when intercropped with barley while white clover and poppy can be sown at the same time. The effect of barley seeding densities on the intercrop performance was small as was the influence of intercropping on weed cover, number and biomass. The weed regulating effect needs to be further examined, however, we conclude that intercropping of poppy is a promising strategy for its cultivation, in terms of minimizing the risk of total yield losses when precisely managed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Management of Organic and Conservation Agriculture)
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