Weilun FENG, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Cropping systems around the world have been widely affected with the global warming trend, and the marginal line of multi-cropping system based on climatic conditions has been moving northward. Thus, the optimization of cropping systems has gradually become the research hotspot of current agricultural development. The Loess Plateau is a typical ecologically fragile region with the most serious soil erosion in China and even in the world. Recently the local government has carried out the Gully Land Consolidation Project (GLCP), which provided an opportunity for the optimization of cropping systems. In this study, we carried out a field experiment in a typical area of the Loess Plateau to explore the impact of sowing date on crop growth, and then analyzed the feasibility of double-cropping system by comprehensively taking climate adaptability, ecological suitability, and economic viability into considerations. The results show that different sowing dates had significant effects on crop yield, and appropriate early sowing can effectively promote crop growth. Moreover, the transformation of single-to-double cropping system was feasible, which included "sweet maize (Zea mays) - forage rape" and "feed maize - forage rape". Furthermore, this study discussed the policy implications of agricultural land consolidation on the optimization of cropping systems and land use, which has important guiding significance for agricultural supply-side reform and modern agricultural development.
Mots clés : land consolidation|double-cropping system|sowing date|Loess Plateau
A104084WF