A research team led by Professor He Ping from the Fertilizer and Fertilization Technology Group at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has made a significant breakthrough in sustainable potato production. Their findings, published in the journal Resources, Environment & Sustainability, are titled "Rotation Reshapes Sustainable Potato Production in Dryland by Reducing Environmental Footprints and Synergistically Enhancing Soil Health."

Sustainable agriculture faces major challenges in balancing economic and environmental benefits, especially in the ecologically fragile and arid regions of Northwest China. This area accounts for over 40% of China's potato cultivation. Due to limited arable land and the high economic return of potatoes, continuous cropping has become increasingly common. However, drought and continuous cropping lead to soil degradation, reduced yields, and high environmental emissions. Achieving "high yield—stable production—low carbon" in these vulnerable dryland ecosystems is a critical challenge for regional agricultural sustainability.

The study focused on typical low to medium fertility soils (comprising 85% of the area) in the dryland agricultural regions of Northwest China. Over a decade-long field experiment, researchers compared potato continuous cropping (PC) with various rotation systems: wheat/green manure-potato (W_gP), pea/green manure-potato (P_gP), and wheat/green manure-pea/green manure-potato (W_gP_gP). Results indicated that soil mineral nitrogen, microbial biomass nitrogen, and available phosphorus were key factors influencing soil health. Compared to continuous cropping, rotation improved soil physical and chemical properties, increasing the soil health index by 6.5%-62.7%. This, in turn, enhanced subsequent potato yields (15.0%-38.2%), water use efficiency (19.5%-31.3%), net economic benefits (30.6%-41.9%), and net ecological economic benefits (14.8%-57.9%). Rotation also increased soil carbon sequestration, reducing GHG emissions by 33.6%-59.3%.

Comprehensive benefit assessments identified pea/green manure-potato as the optimal rotation model for dryland agriculture. By adjusting crop structures, annual potato yields could increase by 0.2%-41.6%, saving 90,000 tons of nutrients and 1.65 billion tons of water, while reducing GHG emissions by 815,000 tons and Nr emissions by 80,000 tons. This approach increases farmers' income by 46.2% and enhances ecological benefits by 68.5%, providing a scientific basis for regional agricultural sustainability and carbon neutrality.

The research was conducted by Dr. Xie Hanyou (first author) and Professor He Ping (corresponding author), in collaboration with the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. It was supported by the National Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-Arid Farmland, National Major Agricultural Science and Technology Projects on Smart Fertilization, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the National Potato Industry System. 

For more details, refer to the original publication:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resenv.2025.100247