Agronomy for Sustainable Development最新文献

{"title":"Echoes of the past: legacy effects in Danish agriculture and their role in sustainable land use","authors":"Nele Lohrum,&nbsp;Christian Levers,&nbsp;Tommy Dalgaard,&nbsp;Signe Normand,&nbsp;Morten Graversgaard","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01137-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01137-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Agricultural expansion, intensification, and specialization improved human well-being over centuries, but they also contributed to current sustainability challenges. While historical transitions in agricultural production systems have significantly shaped present-day land-use patterns, their long-term legacy effects remain underexplored in sustainability research. Addressing this gap, our study provides a novel and comprehensive analysis of the spatial and temporal dynamics of agricultural land-use transitions in Denmark from 1861 to 1907, compared to recent times. We developed a method to trace and map the trends and patterns of transitions and investigate how historical changes in agricultural land management influence contemporary land-use patterns in Denmark, providing insights relevant to sustainability transitions more broadly. Using detailed parish-level agricultural statistics, we identified archetypes of historical agricultural systems based on dominant production types. We then assessed legacy effects by linking these past system archetypes to present-day land-use patterns using random forest regression and correlation analysis, while controlling for soil quality, population density, and market accessibility. We define land-use legacies as enduring impacts of historical agricultural system characteristics that continue to shape present-day land-use patterns. Our findings reveal positive correlations between historical and present indicators of feed crop yields and livestock densities (cattle and pigs), showing strong regional continuity, influencing modern agricultural patterns, and confirming the persistence of land-use legacies in Denmark. A major historical transition from mixed and plant-based systems to specialized livestock-intensive systems is confirmed by negative correlations and regional differences in crop production. These findings demonstrate that historical agricultural practices exert a long-lasting influence on current land use. Recognizing such legacy effects is critical for designing adaptive, regionally tailored policies and management strategies that support sustainable food system transitions. More broadly, our study contributes to international debates on path dependence, resilience, and transformation in agri-food systems, offering lessons that extend beyond the Danish case.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-026-01137-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148728760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trade-offs among environmental impacts for organic vegetable farms with contrasting input levels","authors":"Antonin Pépin,&nbsp;Marie Trydeman Knudsen,&nbsp;Kevin Morel,&nbsp;Philippe Jeanneret,&nbsp;Hayo M. G. van der Werf","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01122-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01122-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>French organic vegetable farms vary from complex biodiversity-based systems with diverse crops to simpler input-based systems with fewer crops. Although this heterogeneity may reflect the conventionalization of organic farming, the environmental impacts of these contrasting production strategies remain poorly quantified. Assessing these impacts is important to inform debates on the environmental performance and future development of organic farming systems. However, diversified vegetable farms are difficult to evaluate with conventional crop-based life cycle assessment because they combine numerous crops on a small area. We therefore applied a farming-system life cycle assessment to three French organic vegetable farms: a large open-field farm, a highly diversified microfarm combining open-field and sheltered production, and a medium-sized sheltered production farm. Using functional units based on area, output mass, and value, we assessed climate change, marine eutrophication, on-farm biodiversity, land competition, and energy demand, and quantified plastic use. The functional unit used strongly influenced the ranking of the systems. Per ha, the sheltered production farm had the highest climate impact, while the open-field farm had the lowest. Per kg and per €, climate impacts varied less, with the open-field farm having the lowest. Energy demand per ha and per kg increased from the open-field farm to the microfarm to the sheltered production farm, while energy demand per € was similar for the open-field and microfarms and higher for the sheltered production farm. The open-field farm used much less plastic than the other two but had a lower biodiversity score and a higher land competition impact. None of the three systems clearly outperformed the others across all impacts. Biodiversity scores highlighted the critical role of semi-natural habitats, emphasizing the need for clear farm-boundary definitions in farming-system life cycle assessment. Estimating nitrate leaching remains challenging due to limitations of the IPCC Tier 1 model, resulting in high uncertainty in marine eutrophication estimates.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148728734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction to: Mapping climate change impacts on cocoa agroforestry systems in Cameroon to mitigate future deforestation","authors":"Nele Gloy,&nbsp;Abel Chemura,&nbsp;Mesmin Tchindjang,&nbsp;Christoph Gornott","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01124-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01124-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-026-01124-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148728735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Classifying herd management systems in Sub-Sahara Africa","authors":"Sarah Lena Graf,&nbsp;Mizeck Chagunda","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01134-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01134-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Sustainable livestock development needs to address multiple, potentially conflicting goals. The farming systems approach has emerged as a very useful tool to deal with the enormous diversity of smallholder farming in the tropics. Previous global classification of livestock farming systems has been useful at the global scale, yet its application becomes limited at the local and granular scales: It is less useful for delivering targeted advice to livestock farmers, identifying study populations and tracking changes in livestock management practices. To close this gap, we develop and test a novel approach that complements farm level classifications with a classification of herd management practices at the herd level. We define the <i>herd management system</i> as a typical combination of herd structure, feeding, and herd management, and their interlinkages. It is thus a sub-system of a household’s farming system. To develop the classification, we used an iterative process of reviewing, coding, and classifying primary studies on livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa. In a second step, we validate the classification's empirical consistency and usefulness using a secondary dataset. The classification can be useful to researchers and practitioners, as it (1) represents the complexity and diversity of livestock management practices as 12 distinct herd management systems; (2) enables more accurate targeting of livestock surveys and interventions, as the identified categories are more homogeneous regarding management factors such as livestock holdings, feeding practices, and hired labor; (3) improves communication and surveys with livestock farmers through a shared understanding of herd management practices, which can be translated into improved surveys with straightforward standard variables and better data structures; and (4) facilitates more granular assessments of change in livestock production.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-026-01134-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148715851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Role of soil particulate organic matter accrual in 15N fate to grain corn comparing long-term, first-time and no cover cropping","authors":"Yajun Peng,&nbsp;Joshua Nasielski,&nbsp;Claudia Wagner-Riddle,&nbsp;Kate A. Congreves,&nbsp;Laura L. Van Eerd","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01136-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01136-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Long-term cover cropping increases soil organic matter; however, the effect of cover crop duration on nitrogen (N) uptake by subsequent crops remains unclear. We hypothesized greater N uptake by grain corn with long-term cover cropping, due to both cover crop decomposition and increased mineralization of particulate and mineral-associated organic matter. Testing this hypothesis is critical for optimizing N management and enhancing the adoption of cover cropping. We introduced a novel experiment by growing cover crops for the first time on a subset of no cover crop plots to compare long-term, first-time, and no cover cropping. We applied ¹⁵N (12 kg N ha^–1) in microplots after cover crop emergence and traced it into cover crops, corn, and soil (0–90 cm depth). During cover crop season (late fall and the following spring), long-term and first-time cover cropping had about double total ¹⁵N recovery in cover crop biomass and soil, compared to no cover cropping where only 30% of ¹⁵N applied was accounted for, indicating that both long-term and first-time cover cropping are equally effective at reducing potential overwinter N losses. At corn harvest, long-term and first-time cover cropping had approximately ten times greater ¹⁵N recovered in soil than in corn biomass, indicating cover crops likely contributed more to soil organic N retention than soil inorganic N supply to subsequent crops. Moreover, piecewise structural equation modeling demonstrated that particulate organic matter, but not mineral-associated organic matter, was the main source of soil mineral N for grain corn in the sandy loam site. This finding implies that mineral N supply depends more on the N pool size of soil organic matter fraction than on N mineralization rate. Overall, our findings demonstrated that building-up soil organic matter under cover cropping is critical for enhancing N availability in agroecosystems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-026-01136-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148690934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accounting for the systemic effects of anaerobic digestion on the practices of farmers","authors":"Jeanne Cadiou,&nbsp;Pierre-Marie Aubert,&nbsp;Jean-Marc Meynard","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01128-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01128-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The rate of on-farm biogas production by anaerobic digestion has increased in Europe since the beginning of the twenty-first century, largely due to policies supporting low-carbon energy production. Anaerobic digestion farms are farms where farmers invest in biogas production mainly from agricultural feedstock, and remain the main investors. Biogas production brings new challenges to agriculture, and current scientific literature does not provide clear conclusions on its agri-environmental effects. Current studies focus on one or more of the agri-environmental effects of on-farm biogas development (mainly greenhouse gas balance, carbon storage, and nitrogen losses), assuming that the farming system as a whole remains unchanged. However, they rarely investigate how biogas production performance relates to indirect changes in farm practices and activities. To better understand the changes in farm practices linked to biogas production, we surveyed 23 biogas farmers operating 19 different on-farm biogas units in two areas of northeast France. We aimed to cover various configurations (e.g., farm activities, digester capacity, number of farmers involved, and energy recovery methods) to capture a diversity of farm functioning. We analyzed these qualitative data by identifying recurring examples of practice changes (or lack thereof). Our results show that biogas development led to various changes in nitrogen fertilization practices, forage and permanent grassland management, and cultivation practices. Biogas production can induce both minor and significant changes on farms, with a variety of drivers of change. These changes depend on the farm characteristics and activities that biogas farmers can develop. The novelty of our research lies in highlighting this diversity of practices and drivers, which are generally not considered in the literature on the agri-environmental assessment of biogas, even though they could significantly affect the results of such assessments. Biogas sustainability research must better consider the dynamics of farming systems and farmers’ agency in on-farm biogas development.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-026-01128-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148682211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pre-sowing and early growing-season rainfall are key drivers of wheat yield change in Australia","authors":"Chao Chen,&nbsp;Ming Li,&nbsp;Noboru Ota,&nbsp;Bin Wang,&nbsp;Bangyou Zheng,&nbsp;Andrew Fletcher,&nbsp;Yvette Oliver","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01135-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01135-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Since 1990, Australian wheat yields have shown modest annual increases, with substantial spatial variation across dryland cropping regions. Quantifying the contribution of climate change, especially rainfall-related factors, to these yield trends is critical for informing effective adaptation strategies. To better understand these trends, we integrated crop simulation modelling, statistical regression, climate scenario analysis, and 18 rainfall indices, based on evidence indicating their strong influence on Australian crop yields to investigate water-limited wheat yield trends and their drivers across the Australian wheatbelt over the past 34 years (1990–2023). This study provides the first integrated, continental-scale assessment of how changes in rainfall characteristics have shaped these trends, revealing that water-limited wheat yields have generally declined, with cumulative reductions ranging from 6.8% in the eastern wheatbelt to 44.2% in the western wheatbelt. Plant available water at sowing and early-season rainfall were identified as the primary climatic drivers, together accounting for 80.0% of yield variation and dominating in about 79.1% of grid cells across the wheatbelt. Over this period, declines in plant available water at sowing and early-season rainfall contributed to an estimated 20.4% cumulative reduction in water-limited yield across the Australian wheatbelt. These findings reveal the key rainfall factors driving changes in water-limited wheat yields, supporting both the development of targeted on-farm adaptation strategies, such as soil-water management and flexible sowing, and the formulation of drought-resilience policies to enhance Australian wheat production.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-026-01135-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148614585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Agroforestry protects arable crops from climate shock during critical early-season phenological stages","authors":"Colin R. Tosh,&nbsp;Christian Gossell,&nbsp;Isabelle Lecomte,&nbsp;Marie Gosme,&nbsp;Jonathan M. Eden,&nbsp;Christina den Hond-Vaccaro,&nbsp;Will Simonson,&nbsp;Felix Herzog,&nbsp;Christian Dupraz","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01129-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01129-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Climate change poses significant threats to European agricultural production, with increasing frequency and severity of adverse weather events impacting crop yields. Agroforestry, the integration of woody elements into agricultural systems, is recognized as a vital agroecological approach for both climate change mitigation and adaptation<i>,</i> yet key mechanistic and long-term performance questions remain unresolved. This study utilized the mechanistic Hi-sAFe model to simulate 100 years (2001–2100) of silvoarable agroforestry performance at Wakelyns farm in southeastern England, focusing on winter wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i>) and pea (<i>Pisum sativum</i>) yields under intermediate (Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5) and very high (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5) emissions scenarios. The research assessed yield stability, underlying microclimatic and phenological mechanisms, and long-term land-use efficiency (land equivalent ratio). This study demonstrates for the first time that agroforestry functions as a climate shock absorber by protecting crops during a critical early-season phenological window, preventing catastrophic yield failures under climate change scenarios. These protective effects were mechanistically linked to microclimatic modification, likely shade, provided by newly emerged walnut (<i>Juglans regia</i>) leaves during the early stages of crop flowering and grain filling, rather than during peak summer heat. While overall yield stability assessed statistically was not significantly enhanced, the mitigation of extreme downside risk represents a profound benefit for farm resilience. Analysis of land equivalent ratio revealed a substantial initial productivity lag, with consistent land equivalent ratio &gt; 1 achieved only after 80 years for wheat and 40 years for pea, highlighting economic adoption barriers but also the potential for optimized system design and adaptive management to accelerate productivity gains. Overall, these results identify a previously unreported mechanistic and temporal basis for agroforestry’s capacity to buffer temperate arable crops against climate-induced yield shocks.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13396031/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148583298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global determinants of yield variability under sustainable farming approaches across climate, soil, and topography. A meta-analysis","authors":"Kpade O. L. Hounkpatin,&nbsp;Johannes Piipponen,&nbsp;Emanuela De Giorgi,&nbsp;Mika Jalava,&nbsp;Jeroen Poelert,&nbsp;Matti Kummu","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01133-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01133-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Enhancing ecosystem services without compromising crop productivity is a central challenge for sustainable agriculture, yet biophysical drivers of yield variability across farming approaches remain poorly resolved. Here, we provide the first comparative global assessment of how climate, soil, and topographic conditions shape yield responses to agroforestry, cover cropping, no-tillage, and organic farming by synthesizing global meta-analytic datasets and linking field comparisons to a common framework of biophysical moderators. Across all sustainable farming approaches, there was no significant overall yield difference relative to conventional management (1.1%; 95% confidence interval –0.7 to 3.0%), but outcomes diverged across biophysical contexts. While agroforestry and cover cropping showed statistically significant positive yield effects under specific aridity conditions, no-tillage was consistently associated with statistically significant yield reductions in wetter environments, and organic farming showed no significant overall effect. Responses across soil and topographic gradients were context-dependent, with significant effects observed for specific soil types and elevated or sloping landscapes, whereas most other patterns were not consistently statistically significant. These findings demonstrate that environmental heterogeneity governs yield responses to sustainable farming approaches and support context-specific implementation strategies to improve agricultural sustainability and resilience.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13391773/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148576761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrating legumes into cropping systems increases soil carbon and nitrogen content while it reduces the soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. A meta-analysis","authors":"Zhiqiang Lu,&nbsp;Yapeng Li,&nbsp;Jiali Yang,&nbsp;Yisha Yang,&nbsp;Ran Xu,&nbsp;Liyan Shang,&nbsp;Guorui Li,&nbsp;Tong Li,&nbsp;Yuncheng Liao,&nbsp;Xiaoxia Wen","doi":"10.1007/s13593-026-01132-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-026-01132-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Integrating legumes into cropping systems offers a promising strategy to mitigate the decline in soil fertility caused by continuous agricultural intensification. However, existing studies have mainly examined individual soil carbon or nitrogen indicators, or have been conducted within limited contexts, leaving a comprehensive understanding of soil carbon and nitrogen responses at the global scale lacking. We therefore conducted a global meta-analysis of 1199 observations from 173 field experiments to evaluate integrating legumes into cropping systems impacts on soil carbon and nitrogen under diverse management practices and environmental conditions. Our results showed that integrating legumes into cropping systems significantly increased the soil organic carbon and total nitrogen content by 4.60% and 7.90%, respectively, while reducing the soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio by 2.37%. Changes in soil organic carbon and total nitrogen due to legume integration were positively correlated with mean annual precipitation and mean annual temperature, but negatively correlated with initial soil organic carbon and initial soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. Integrating legumes as cover crops led to greater increases in soil organic carbon and total nitrogen, whereas the reduction in soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio was more pronounced when legumes were used as main crops. Moreover, soil organic carbon and total nitrogen increased when legumes replaced fallow or gramineous crops, whereas soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio significantly decreased only when legumes replaced gramineous crops. Furthermore, the benefits of integrating legumes into cropping systems on soil organic carbon and soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio were amplified by greater crop diversity. Overall, this study provides the first comprehensive global synthesis of the effects of integrating legumes into cropping systems on soil carbon and nitrogen status, quantifies how environmental conditions and management practices modulate these effects, and provides practical guidance for the site-specific implementation of legume-based cropping systems in sustainable agriculture.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148538167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}