Caractérisation fonctionnelle d'espèces utilisées en cultures intermédiaires et analyse de leurs performances en mélanges bispécifiques pour produire des services écosystémiques de gestion de l'azote

Cover crops produce ecosystem services for nitrogen management during fallow period such as decreasing nitrate leaching and producing green N manure effect for the next cash crop. The aim of this work was to characterize a large number of species using a functional analysis and to analyze the performances of bispecific legume/non-legume mixtures to simultaneously produce both ecosystem services. Leaf functional traits measured on 36 cover crops were found robust but lacked of precision in differentiating species strategies. The cardinal temperatures for germination measured in laboratory have shown that the majority of species is adapted to summer sowing conditions. A conceptual model was designed and implemented in GLM to predict the behavior of species in mixtures. The measurements carried out in field experiments coupled with STICS model simulations confirmed the potential efficiency of some bispecific mixtures to simultaneously produce ecosystem services of nitrogen management. This efficiency depends on the choice of the two species to associate which must be adapted according to the pedoclimatic conditions as well as the date of cover crop destruction

Designing and evaluating arable cropping systems with cash and cover crop legumes in sole crop and intercrop to improve nitrogen use efficiency

Mini ReviewThis paper aimed at synthetizing: i. Impact of sole grain legume at the rotation level, ii. Potential of grain legume intercrops for improving yield and cereal protein content and iii. Potential of cover crops including intercropped forage legume to achieve simultaneously nitrate capture and green manuring ecosystem services

Influence of root and leaf traits on the uptake of nutrients in cover crops

Aims: Cover crops play an important role in soil fertility as they can accumulate large amounts of nutrients. This study aimed at understanding the nutrient uptake capacity of a wide range of cover crops and at assessing the relevance of acquisition strategies. Methods: A field experiment was conducted to characterize 20 species in terms of leaf and root traits. Plant traits were related to nutrient concentration and shoot biomass production with a redundancy analysis. Acquisition strategies were identified using a cluster analysis. Results: Root systems varied greatly among cover crop species. Five nutrient acquisition strategies were delineated. Significant amounts of nutrients (about 120 kg ha−1 of nitrogen, 30 kg ha−1 of phosphorus and 190 kg ha−1 of potassium) were accumulated by the species in a short period. Nutrient acquisition strategies related to high accumulations of nutrients consisted in either high shoot biomass and root mass and dense tissues, or high nutrient concentrations and root length densities. Species with high root length densities showed lower C/N ratios. Conclusions: The same amounts of nutrients were accumulated by groups with different acquisition strategies. However, their nutrient concentrations offer different perspectives in terms of nutrient release for the subsequent crop and nutrient cycling improvement

Management of service crops for the provision of ecosystem services in vineyards: A review

Service crops are crops grown with the aim of providing non-marketed ecosystem services, i.e. differing from food, fiber and fuel production. Vineyard soils face various agronomic issues such as poor organic carbon levels, erosion, fertility losses, and numerous studies have highlighted the ability of service crops to address these issues. In addition to their ability to increase soil organic matter and fertility, and reduce runoff and erosion processes, service crops provide a large variety of ecosystem services in vineyards such as weed control, pest and disease regulation, water supply, water purification, improvement of field trafficability and maintenance of soil biodiversity. However, associating service crops with grapevines may also generate disservices and impair grape production: competition for soil resources with the grapevine is often highlighted to reject such association. Consequently, vinegrowers have to find a balance between services and disservices, depending on local soil and climate conditions, on their objectives of grape production and on the nature and temporality of the ecosystem services they expect during the grapevine cycle. This study proposes a review of the services and disservices provided by service crops in vineyards, and a framework for their management. Vinegrowers’ production objectives and pedoclimatic constraints form the preliminary stage to consider before defining a strategy of service crop management. This strategy assembles management options such as the choice of species, its spatial distribution within the vineyard, the timing of its installation, maintenance and destruction. These management options, defined for both annual and long-term time scales, form action levers which may impact cropping system functioning. Finally, we underline the importance of implementing an adaptive strategy at the seasonal time scale. Such tactical management allows adapting the cropping system to observed climate and state of the biophysical system during the grapevine cycle, in order to provide targeted services and achieve satisfactory production objectives

Phylogenetic patterns and phenotypic profiles of the species of plants and mammals farmed for food

The origins of agriculture were key events in human history, during which people came to depend for their food on small numbers of animal and plant species. However, the biological traits determining which species were domesticated for food provision, and which were not, are unclear. Here, we investigate the phylogenetic distribution of livestock and crops, and compare their phenotypic traits with those of wild species. Our results indicate that phylogenetic clustering is modest for crop species but more intense for livestock. Domesticated species explore a reduced portion of the phenotypic space occupied by their wild counterparts and have particular traits in common. For example, herbaceous crops are globally characterized by traits including high leaf nitrogen concentration and tall canopies, which make them fast-growing species and proficient competitors. Livestock species are relatively large mammals with low basal metabolic rates, which indicate moderate to slow life histories. Our study therefore reveals ecological differences in domestication potential between plants and mammals. Domesticated plants belong to clades with traits that are advantageous in intensively managed high-resource habitats, whereas domesticated mammals are from clades adapted to moderately productive environments. Combining comparative phylogenetic methods with ecologically relevant traits has proven useful to unravel the causes and consequences of domestication

Sunflower-soybean intercropping. An efficient solution for increasing natural resources use efficiency and yield production ?

International audienc

Sunflower-soybean intercropping. An efficient solution for increasing natural resources use efficiency and yield production ?

International audienc

Resource acquisition and ecosystem services provided by bi-specific cover crop mixtures

Multi-service cover crops are used to provide ecosystem services, particularly for nitrogen management, such as “nitrate catching” and "green manuring" effects. Sowing cover crop mixtures including legumes and non-legumes have the advantage of combining the provision of both services related to N management thanks to phenomena of niche complementarity and/or facilitation in the capture of abiotic resources. When complementarities are optimized, these species mixtures can achieve both effects similarly to those provided by the average of mono specific cover crops, especially for nitrate catching. In addition, the complementarity for the access to light thanks to species having different aerial architectures and contrasted temporal complementarities enable them to obtain services in relay, in particular in the case of the longest fallow periods over mid-Spring. However, in order to achieve the targeted services, attention must be paid to limit competition between species in particular during early stages