Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment最新文献

{"title":"Nature-Based Solutions for Climate-Smart Agriculture: Current Status and Perspectives","authors":"Jilliane Clare Lu,&nbsp;Sagun Mahajan,&nbsp;Cheng-Chun He,&nbsp;Shu-Yuan Pan","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70205","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Nature-based solutions (NbS) have emerged as a promising strategy for agricultural systems to mitigate and adapt to climate change. These include practices such as agroforestry, organic amendments, and conservation agriculture, which can provide several ecosystem services and benefits including enhanced soil health, carbon sequestration, and increased biodiversity. Despite their growing prominence, robust evidence on the overall performance of NbS remains limited, particularly regarding their co-benefits, trade-offs, and environmental impacts. This study presents global case studies that highlight the advantages and limitations of various NbS practices, as well as current challenges to their widespread implementation. We explore opportunities for integrating NbS into the transition from linear, intensive farming towards circular agriculture, unfolding multiple benefits across environmental, economic, and social dimensions. We evaluate the role of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a comprehensive tool for quantifying environmental impacts and supporting evidence-based decision-making. Drawing on these insights, we conceptualise a framework that integrates NbS and circularity principles into agricultural systems, with LCA as the quantitative backbone complemented by other economic and social assessments. Nevertheless, further research is still necessary to improve conventional LCA so that it can capture the multifunctionality and diverse ecosystem services provided by NbS. Advancing these methods will aid in the development of a robust framework for implementing, assessing, and monitoring NbS in agricultural systems, supporting the creation of policies that promote climate-smart agriculture.</p>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70205","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148783899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Using P-Mobilization Traits in Modern Maize Varieties for Optimizing the P Fertiliser Use Efficiency of Struvite Under P Limitation: First Evidence From a Pot and Field Trial","authors":"Michelle Natalie Herrmann,&nbsp;Daniel Wanke,&nbsp;Peteh Mehdi Nkebiwe,&nbsp;Torsten Müller","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70202","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Introduction</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Current recycling measures for closing the phosphorus (P) cycle are limited by the lower fertiliser use efficiencies of recycled products. Increasing P use efficiency (PUE) through maize genotype selection and management may offer a sustainable solution, but the potential of variety choice and its interaction with placed fertilisation for enhancing recycled fertilisers' efficiency remains unclear.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Material and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Four maize genotypes differing in P efficiency were tested in a pot trial, where microbial P, phosphatase activity, and Olsen-P were measured and their links to PUE were investigated. Three of these genotypes were examined in a two year field trial comparing two fertiliser types (diammonium phosphate (DAP); struvite) and application methods (broadcast vs. placed).</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p><i>Stabil</i> showed higher microbial biomass P and <i>LG_30258</i> higher phosphatase activity than other varieties. Although not significant, the PUE, expressed as biomass divided by fertilisation, varied among genotypes (<i>Amaroc</i> 3.4 x higher than <i>Ricardinio</i>). In the field, no genotype × management interaction was detected and genotypic differences became minimal (<i>LG_30258</i> 1.4 x higher than <i>Stabil</i>). Struvite performed comparably to DAP across both years, while fertiliser placement only increased biomass and P offtake in the drier year, 2022. P mobilisation traits could not predict PUE, however, P offtake in the pot and field trial followed the same ranking order as the P mobilization traits.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study highlights that the slow-release fertiliser, struvite, has a comparable fertiliser efficiency than DAP, and fertiliser placement can further enhance PUE in dry seasons, independent of the fertiliser source. Although slight genotypic variance in P mobilisation exists in modern maize varieties and can predict P responsiveness, the influence of genotype choice and management options appeared additive rather than synergistic since genotype x management interaction was not significant. Future research should further explore how to exploit synergies between genotypes, management, and fertilisers.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70202","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148753670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Compartment-Specific Functional and Taxonomic Responses of Plant Growth-Promoting Microbiomes Following Oxytetracycline Trunk Injection in Citrus","authors":"Antonio Castellano-Hinojosa,&nbsp;Jesús González-López,&nbsp;Sarah L. Strauss,&nbsp;Ute Albrecht","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70200","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Huanglongbing (HLB), caused by <i>Candidatus</i> Liberibacter asiaticus, is the most destructive disease affecting citrus production worldwide. Trunk injection of oxytetracycline (OTC) is increasingly used to suppress the pathogen and improve tree performance, yet its ecological consequences for plant-associated microbiomes remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the compartment-specific responses of plant growth–promoting microbiomes to systemic OTC treatment in HLB-affected citrus trees under commercial orchard conditions. Using shotgun metagenomics combined with targeted detection of plant growth–promoting genes, we analyzed functional and taxonomic dynamics across leaves, bark, roots, and rhizosphere at three time points (3 days, 3 weeks, and 3 months) following treatment. OTC injection reduced pathogen abundance in leaves and improved yield, fruit weight, and juice quality. Aggregated plant growth–promoting functional profiles remained largely stable across compartments. However, taxonomic shifts were nonetheless detected within microbial lineages carrying these functions, suggesting that comparable functional potential may be maintained despite changes in the microbial lineages encoding it. Bark communities showed transient enrichment of nutrient acquisition and interaction-related functions, while the rhizosphere exhibited taxonomic turnover without consistent functional shifts. In contrast, root microbiomes displayed temporally structured reorganization of interaction-associated functions and were the only compartment where functional composition correlated with plant performance. Genome-resolved analyses further suggested early enrichment of stress-tolerant and metabolically versatile taxa following treatment. We conclude that systemic OTC trunk injection in citrus was associated with taxonomic redistribution rather than broad functional loss of plant-associated microbiomes, with functionally relevant consequences emerging selectively in the root microbiome. These findings highlight the importance of spatially resolved microbiome analyses for understanding the ecological impacts of antibiotic use in perennial crop systems and for evaluating the sustainability of disease-management strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70200","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148754050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nitrogen-Starved Wheat: A Multi-Omics Perspective From Epigenome Regulation to Grain Quality","authors":"Baber Ali,&nbsp;Zeeshan Khan,&nbsp;Nijat Imin","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70193","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Nitrogen is the most yield-limiting macronutrient in wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.), yet no prior review has integrated nitrogen deficiency symptomology, physiology, and multi-omics approaches encompassing transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics into a single mechanistic framework for wheat specifically. Wheat's hexaploid genome, distinctive nitrogen remobilisation architecture, and unique grain protein composition generate responses that cannot be extrapolated from diploid cereals. Two stress modes must be distinguished: acute nitrogen withdrawal induces rapid NLP7-mediated <i>NRT2</i> transporter activation within minutes, whereas chronic low-nitrogen supply drives sustained epigenetic and root architectural adaptations over weeks. Post-translational modifications, including NRT2 phosphorylation and thioredoxin-regulated starch biosynthetic enzyme activity, govern nitrogen remobilisation dynamics independently of transcript abundance. The novel synthesis offered here repositions epigenetic regulation, specifically H3K27ac and H3K27me3 dynamics at <i>NRT2</i>, GS, and storage protein loci, as a principal determinant of cultivar-specific nitrogen use efficiency operating independently of DNA sequence variation. Sub-genome homologue epigenetic asymmetry in hexaploid wheat provides phenotypic buffering capacity unavailable to diploid cereals. The rhizosphere microbiome is identified as an integral co-regulator of nitrogen acquisition whose molecular interactions with plant signalling networks remain uncharacterised. Three wheat-specific dimensions absent from rice and maize are identified: sub-genome epigenetic asymmetry, an unusually high nitrogen harvest index amplifying remobilisation failure costs, and a gliadin-glutenin quality trade-off driven by differential chromatin accessibility. Five knowledge gaps define the immediate research agenda: single-cell omics under nitrogen deficiency, developmental time-series multi-omics, CRISPR validation of NUE quantitative trait locus candidates, molecular characterisation of organic versus mineral nitrogen responses, and climate-nitrogen epigenomics under elevated carbon dioxide. Wheat-specific multi-omics investment is required as a primary research objective rather than an agronomic supplement.</p>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70193","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148753221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integration of Biochar and Rainwater Harvesting to Improve Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) in Semi-Arid Regions of Zimbabwe","authors":"Andrew Tapiwa Kugedera","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70199","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Introduction</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Crop production has been declining in semi-arid areas over the past two decades due to several biophysical constraints, including soil infertility and water stress induced by low rainfall. The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the effects of biochar and rainwater harvesting techniques on soil moisture content, bulk density, rainwater-use efficiency, and grain yield in pearl millet in the semi-arid region of Zimbabwe.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials and Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The experiment was laid out in a 5 × 3 factorial design with biochar as the first factor at five levels (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 t ha⁻¹) and rainwater harvesting techniques as a second factor at three levels (tied contour, infiltration pits, and standard contour).</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>showed that the application of 10 t ha⁻¹ had the highest soil moisture content of 19.7%, which was 131.7% above the control (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). Additionally, the tied contour had the highest soil moisture content, which was significantly higher than that of other rainwater harvesting techniques. Bulk density decreased significantly (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05), by an average of 10%, with the application of 5 t ha⁻¹ biochar. Furthermore, rainwater use efficiency was influenced considerably (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05), with the highest of 3.5 kg ha⁻¹ mm-1 from 10 t ha⁻¹ biochar and 3.1 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹ from tied contour. Integration of 10 t ha⁻¹ biochar and tied contour showed the highest rainwater-use efficiency of 5.11 mm kg⁻¹ ha⁻¹, which was significant (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) during 2024/25. Pearl millet grain yield was significantly (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) influenced by biochar and rainwater harvesting, with integration of 10 t ha⁻¹ biochar and tied contour having the highest (2085.7 kg ha⁻¹) grain yield during 2024/25.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>It can be concluded that the use of biochar in sandy loam soils, together with tied contour, increased soil moisture content and improved the grain yield of pearl millet in semi-arid regions.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70199","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148753118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative Quality of Garden Strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa Duch. cv. Albion) Produced in Soil and Soilless Sustainable Urban Systems","authors":"Damariz Ushiña,&nbsp;Ounísia D. Santos,&nbsp;Tomás M. R. Luz,&nbsp;Fernando Sebastião,&nbsp;Vânia S. Ribeiro,&nbsp;Cidália D. Pereira,&nbsp;Carla Guimarães,&nbsp;Zaida L. Almeida,&nbsp;Pedro F. Cruz,&nbsp;André Fonseca,&nbsp;Maria C. Rodrigues,&nbsp;Luís Cotrim,&nbsp;Celso Alves,&nbsp;Susana Bernardino,&nbsp;Raul Bernardino,&nbsp;Daniela C. Vaz,&nbsp;Judite Vieira","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70185","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Introduction/Materials</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Modern agriculture faces the challenge of balancing high crop yields with sustainable resource management and nutritional quality. Here, soil and soilless systems (hydroponics and aquaponics) for cultivating the day-neutral cultivar ‘Albion’ of the garden strawberry (<i>Fragaria</i> × <i>ananassa</i> Duch.) were compared in terms of fruit quality and production yields.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods/Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Physicochemical parameters, including total soluble solids (TSS), reducing sugars, crude protein, ash, moisture, pH, minerals, total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant capacity (AC), and pigment levels (anthocyanins, chlorophylls, carotenoids, and CIE<i>Lab</i> colour measurements) were used to assess fruit quality. Soil cultivation achieved the highest biomass and mineral content (ash, K, and Mg), suggesting superior plant adaptation. Hydroponics yielded the heaviest fruits (~ 16 g) with more reducing sugars (860.1 mg.g⁻¹ dw) and TSS (8.77 °Brix), also leading to the highest cell viability. Conversely, despite having the lowest yields, aquaponically grown fruits were the richest in health-promoting compounds, exhibiting the highest AC (46.8 mg VCEAC.g⁻¹ dw), TPC (32.7 ± 4.2 mg GAE.g⁻¹ dw), and anthocyanin content (261.9 ± 13.1 mg.L⁻¹ dw). All systems produced fruits with low microbial loads and no toxic effects to FL8-3B liver cells.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Soil cultivation has a low energy impact but leads to lower levels of marketable fruits and is less efficient in water and nutrient management. Substrate hydroponics provides strong control over production parameters and uses synthetic nutrients that can be precisely tailored to crop demands, while aquaponics systems although having higher operational complexity and leading to lower crop yields, are highly efficient in water and nutrients and produce fruits of higher nutritional quality.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70185","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating Biostimulant Products for Wheat Production in Weathered Soils and Dry Environments","authors":"Katharina Belt,&nbsp;Samantha Harvie,&nbsp;Bede S. Mickan,&nbsp;Richard A. Ang,&nbsp;Lynette K. Abbott,&nbsp;Harvey Millar","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70197","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The need to reduce reliance on synthetic fertilisers has intensified interest in biostimulants and organic amendments as sustainable alternatives in cereal production. This study assessed the performance of three commercially available biostimulants in wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i>) across three environments: controlled conditions, an irrigated urban field and a rainfed agricultural field under the challenging conditions of south-western Western Australia (WA), characterised by hot, dry growing seasons in summer and highly weathered soils. Grain yield, total protein content and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) were measured at harvest. Across all three growing conditions, the selected biostimulants did not significantly improve yield or protein relative to synthetic fertiliser, with several biostimulant treatments performing below that of conventional N inputs. Although higher NUE was observed under reduced-N biostimulant treatments, this may reflect low nutrient inputs rather than improved N uptake or utilisation. These findings highlight that biostimulant efficacy must be rigorously evaluated across a gradient of growing conditions to determine their suitability for practical application. Many products are not systematically tested from controlled to field environments, yet such staged assessment is essential to identify solutions capable of supporting sustainable wheat production under increasingly heat- and nutrient-stressed agroecosystems worldwide.</p>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70197","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Co-Flowering Plant Species in a Glasshouse Boost Both Strawberry Production and Bee Health","authors":"Sindhu Sheoran,&nbsp;Sally A. Power,&nbsp;Amy-Marie Gilpin,&nbsp;Sunita Yadav,&nbsp;James M. Cook","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70198","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Pollination is crucial to production of most fruits and vegetables but must be managed alongside plant growth and pest control, making it important to understand any trade-offs between crop management and pollinator health. A key arena is protected cropping, which facilitates crop growth and pest control, but poses challenges for pollination. For example, managed bees in glasshouses may suffer from an unnaturally narrow diet. Co-flowering plants can be grown alongside crops but may compete for pollinators and thus reduce crop pollination. To investigate these issues, we studied glasshouse strawberries pollinated by managed stingless bees. In chambers with and without co-flowering plants, we monitored bee activity and hive weight, flower visitation and strawberry production. In co-flowering chambers, bees made approximately 1.5 times more visits to strawberry flowers than to co-flowering species, and still visited strawberry flowers more often than in the monoculture treatment. Further, this resulted in higher quality strawberries with more fertilised achenes. Crucially, hive weight and bee activity were also significantly higher in the co-flowering treatment, where all hives maintained or gained weight, while control hives all lost weight. Our study provides a rare example of clear synergy between managing for bee health and crop pollination, leading to a “win-win” in glasshouse systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70198","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterizing How Community-Level Plant Functional Traits Impact Soil Microbial Diversity","authors":"Prashasti Agarwal,&nbsp;Jacob N. Barney,&nbsp;Brian D. Strahm,&nbsp;Michael L. Flessner,&nbsp;Brian D. Badgley","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70196","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Introduction</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Functional trait-based approaches have been suggested for designing functionally diverse plant communities to influence soil microbial community structure and diversity. However, it remains unclear how species-level plant functional traits (PFTs) and microbial associations translate to community-level functional trait and soil microbiome composition.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Four plant mixtures comprising of three species each, were designed to exhibit contrasting (high vs. low) PFTs, or soil bacterial diversity based on species-level PFTs and soil bacterial communities as reported in (Agarwal et al., 2025). The mixtures were grown in pots in a greenhouse for 10 weeks, at the end of which, the pots were destructively sampled to characterize community-level above- and belowground PFTs and the associated soil bacterial and fungal communities.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Our results showed that all mixtures varied in their overall PFT composition. Mixture designed for high PFT diversity had significantly higher above- and below-ground biomass, root diameter, and tissue C and N concentrations than low PFT diversity treatment. While mixtures with the greatest divergence in overall PFTs composition harbored distinct soil microbial communities, mixtures specifically designed to differ in their associated soil bacterial communities did not. We also did not identify any specific PFT(s) measured in this study that significantly related to the differences in the soil microbiome.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Together, these findings demonstrate that species-level trait data can be used to assemble plant mixtures with contrasting community-level functional trait composition and distinct soil microbial communities. Overall community-level PFT composition was more influential than individual traits in shaping soil microbiomes. This highlights the potential of PFT-based approaches for designing functionally diverse plant mixtures, such as cover crops, that influence the soil microbial assembly in agroecosystems. Future research should evaluate if microbial shifts associated with contrasting PFT composition translate into measurable changes in soil health and ecosystem services under field conditions.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70196","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148752434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Farm-Level Sustainability Assessment: Australian Farmers' Perceptions of Environmental, Social and Governance Impacts in Agriculture","authors":"Bhola Paudel,&nbsp;Shyh Wei Teng,&nbsp;Shoaib Riaz,&nbsp;Ramachandra Rao Kolluri,&nbsp;Harpinder Sandhu","doi":"10.1002/sae2.70194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70194","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There is growing global interest in sustainable agriculture and in environmental, social and governance (ESG) accounting. While primary producers' interaction with traditional environmental management are well-documented, relatively little is known about how farmers perceive and adapt to integrated corporate ESG assessment frameworks at the farm level. This study examines Australian farmers' perceptions of agricultural sustainability, adoption practices, awareness of ESG and sustainability frameworks by capturing a diverse cross-section of 200 validated Australian farming operations spanning multiple states, enterprises and sizes to explore emerging insights. Data on demographics, farm characteristics, sustainability attitudes and practices, engagement with schemes, ESG familiarity and tool preferences were collected. Findings show that sustainability was widely valued, with 91% of respondents considering it important for their farm's future, and 82% self-reported their farm activities as sustainable. Adoption was highest for practices compatible with existing systems and offering visible co-benefits, while capital-intensive or long-horizon options were less common. Among responders, 29.5% had used at least one formal sustainability framework, and ESG familiarity and perceived importance were moderate and uneven, associated more with enterprise type, main income source and group membership than with age or education. Motivations for sustainable practice (especially environmental and stewardship concerns) co-existed with strong barriers related to costs, limited incentives and information gaps. Driver-to-barrier ratios and counts varied by state, enterprise and farm size, indicating context-specific feedback structures. These patterns are consistent with viewing Australian agriculture as a complex adaptive system in which a broad sustainability norm emerges across diverse farms. The findings highlight a structural gap exist between on-farm sustainability and formal reporting. This points to the need for farmer-centred ESG and sustainability tools that are low burden, integrated with existing management systems, sensitive to enterprise and regional diversity and able to translate bottom-up practices into credible, system-level evidence.</p>","PeriodicalId":100834,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/sae2.70194","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148615875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}