Agronomy for Sustainable Development最新文献

{"title":"The nitrogen fertilizer conundrum: why is yield a poor determinant of crops’ nitrogen fertilizer requirements?","authors":"Peter J. Thorburn,&nbsp;Jody S. Biggs,&nbsp;Laila A. Puntel,&nbsp;John E. Sawyer,&nbsp;Yvette L. Everingham,&nbsp;Sotirios V. Archontoulis","doi":"10.1007/s13593-024-00955-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-024-00955-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer both underpins high productivity of agricultural systems and contributes to multiple environmental harms. The search for ways that farmers can optimize the N fertilizer applications to their crops is of global significance. A common concept in developing recommendations for N fertilizer applications is the “mass balance paradigm” – that is, bigger crops need more N, and smaller less – despite several studies showing that the crop yield at the optimum N rate (N_opt) is poorly related to N_opt. In this study we simulated two contrasting field experiments where crops were grown for 5 and 16 consecutive years under uniform management, but in which yield at N_opt was poorly correlated to N_opt. We found that N lost to the environment relative to yields (i.e., kg N t^-1) varied +/- 124 and 164 % of the mean in the simulations of the experiments. Conversely, N exported in harvested produce (kg N t^-1) was +/- 11 and 48 % of the mean. Given the experiments were uniformly managed across time, the variations result from crop-to-crop climatic differences. These results provide, for the first time, a quantitative example of the importance of climatic causes of the poor correlation between yield at N_opt and N_opt. An implication of this result is that, even if yield of the coming crop could be accurately predicted it would be of little use in determining the amount of N fertilizer farmers need to apply because of the variability in environmental N losses and/or crop N uptake. These results, in addition to previous empirical evidence that yield at N_opt and N_opt are poorly correlated, may help industry and farmers move to more credible systems of N fertilizer management.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-024-00955-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140161918","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":"Reviewer acknowledgments—ASD 2023","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s13593-024-00951-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-024-00951-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140242857","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":"The effectiveness of intercropping and agri-environmental schemes on ecosystem service of biological pest control: a meta-analysis","authors":"Maryam Yousefi,&nbsp;Riho Marja,&nbsp;Elias Barmettler,&nbsp;Johan Six,&nbsp;Anne Dray,&nbsp;Jaboury Ghazoul","doi":"10.1007/s13593-024-00947-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-024-00947-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Plant diversification contributes to the ecological intensification of agroecosystems through pest biocontrol services provision. However, the existing evidence for the effectiveness of plant diversification in enhancing pest biocontrol services is highly uncertain across features of plant diversity and biodiversity characteristics. We undertook a comparative meta-analysis focusing on three essential crops (wheat, maize, and soybean) to investigate how diversification schemes in-field (intercropping) and Agri-environmental scheme (AES) around the field (flower strip, hedgerow and field margin) affect arthropod abundance. A random effects analysis was used to determine the role of 10 key factors underlying the effectiveness of plant diversification including biodiversity level and habitat, main and companion plant species, intercropping arrangement, the growth stage of the main crops, type of AES planting scheme, AES planting width, distance from AES plantings and geographical latitude. The overall results revealed that intercropping reduced herbivore and boosted predators and parasitoids abundance significantly, while AES successfully increased predators but not herbivores. Maize intercropping with legume and non-legume plants and row intercropping allowed for effective pest management. The abundance of predators increased in wheat fields immediately adjacent to planting around the field (AES), but this effect declined beyond 5 m from the flower strips. Our results suggest that the response of arthropod abundance to plant diversification is a compromise between spatial management scale, ecological characteristics of arthropod and plant diversification features. These results offer promising pathways for optimizing plant diversification schemes that include functional farm biodiversity across spatial and temporal scales and designing multi-functional landscapes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-024-00947-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139977051","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":"Agricultural technology as a driver of sustainable intensification: insights from the diffusion and focus of patents","authors":"Yafei Li,&nbsp;Felix Herzog,&nbsp;Christian Levers,&nbsp;Franziska Mohr,&nbsp;Peter H. Verburg,&nbsp;Matthias Bürgi,&nbsp;Rebekka Dossche,&nbsp;Tim G. Williams","doi":"10.1007/s13593-024-00949-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-024-00949-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Sustainable intensification (SI) responds to the concurrent challenges of increasing food production while reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture. As an early disclosure of innovation, patents are a useful indicator of technology market potential. However, we lack understanding of the extent to which current agricultural technology patents relate to the goals of SI and which kinds of technologies can potentially address SI. Here, we analyzed the diffusion and focus of more than one million patents issued during the period 1970–2022. We explored the degree to which the patents relate to SI through the co-occurrence of efficiency and environmental friendliness targets. Our results reveal that while the rate of patent issuance has dramatically increased over the past five decades, the rate at which patents diffused to different countries had decreased over time. The USA was the biggest net exporter of patents and had produced by far the most high-impact patents (in the top 1% most-cited patents). Since 1970, only 4% of agricultural patents and 6% of high-impact patents were related to SI targets (i.e., promoting both agricultural efficiency and environmental friendliness), but the attention to SI has increased over time. The most highly cited SI-related patents had become more diverse over time, shifting from digital, machine, and energy technologies in 1980s to the current era of agroecology, information, and computer networking. Our results provide an early indication of promising technologies that may play a greater role for SI in the future, subject to the challenges of market transfer and farm adoption and complemented by non-technological innovations in farm management and institutional support.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-024-00949-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139915884","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":"Diversity, adoption and performances of inter-row management practices in immature rubber plantations. A review","authors":"Charlotte Simon,&nbsp;Alexis Thoumazeau,&nbsp;Bénédicte Chambon,&nbsp;Kannika Sajjaphan,&nbsp;Aurélie Metay","doi":"10.1007/s13593-024-00944-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-024-00944-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Perennial cropping systems begin their cycles with a pluriannual immature period. Appropriate management, including the inter-rows, is essential for the long-term viability, and productivity of the plantation while reducing the length of the unproductive period. Despite its significant economic and environmental impacts, the immature period is still poorly characterized and rarely included in the assessment of perennial cropping systems sustainability. Rubber plantations are an interesting case, as a major perennial system in the tropics. Here we conducted a systematic review to identify (1) management practices in inter-rows of immature rubber plantations; (2) the variables used in the literature to analyze the adoption drivers of these practices and to assess their effects on plantation functionalities and performances; and (3) the main effects of diversification practices on plantation functionalities and performances. The major results showed that (1) different inter-row management practices, including a diversity of crops, are possible during the immature period; (2) adoption of diversification practices is driven by few global factors but mostly depends on the specific socio-economic and agroecological context; (3) diversification practices are usually assessed with respect to agronomic and economic performances, and their impacts are generally positive. We identified missing knowledge required for a comprehensive view on current inter-row management practices in immature rubber plantations. First, technical operations should be included in the characterization and assessment of inter-row management practices. Second, a multicriteria assessment framework is required to cover all the sustainability dimensions to guarantee the diffusion of more performant management practices. In order to include the diversity of perceptions of sustainability in rubber plantations, this multicriteria assessment should be based on relevant criteria that combine farmers’ and scientists’ points of view. Detailed characterization of current immature rubber plantations merged with multicriteria assessment will be essential for the design of more sustainable rubber tree cropping systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139745348","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":"Distribution of pesticides in agroecosystem food webs differ among trophic groups and between annual and perennial crops","authors":"Radek Michalko,&nbsp;Luboš Purchart,&nbsp;Jakub Hofman,&nbsp;Ondřej Košulič","doi":"10.1007/s13593-024-00950-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-024-00950-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Pesticides threaten biodiversity, but we know little about how they permeate food webs. Few studies have investigated the number, concentration, and composition of pesticides in agroecosystem food webs even though agroecosystems cover one-third of Earth’s land area. We conducted a pioneering study on the distribution of pesticides across local (i.e., on farm) and meta food webs (i.e., regional pool of local food webs) within both perennial (<i>N</i> = 8) and annual crops (<i>N</i> = 11), examining four trophic groups—soil (primary resource), plants (primary producers), rodents (herbivores), and spiders (predators)—for the presence of multiple residues, and comparing these findings to pesticides applied by farmers in recent years. We also undertook interviews with farmers to obtain the most precise information about pesticide applications in their fields. We detected a wide spectrum of pesticides in both annual and perennial crop types. Pesticides applied by farmers represented only a small proportion of all detected pesticides, indicating that pesticides entered local food webs from surrounding landscapes. Some detected pesticides had been banned by the European Union several years ago, which is highly alarming. Trophic group mobility and crop type drove pesticides number at local scale, as mobile groups contained larger numbers of pesticides (probably from encountering wider spectra of pesticides). At a meta scale, spiders contained the highest number of detected pesticides in perennial crops but lowest diversity in annual crops. This might be explained by how spiders’ functional traits are selected in different crops. Insecticides and fungicides concentrations mostly increased with trophic level, indicating bioaccumulation. Herbicides concentration were highest in plants suggesting (bio)degradation. As bioaccumulation outweighed (bio)degradation, pesticides increased overall with trophic level. Therefore, the distribution of pesticides in agroecosystem food webs was affected simultaneously by several mechanisms and depended upon trophic group, crop type, and, probably, surrounding landscape.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-024-00950-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139745349","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":"Disentangling shade effects for cacao pest and disease regulation in the Peruvian Amazonia","authors":"Marcos J. Ramos,&nbsp;Leïla Bagny Beilhe,&nbsp;Jhoner Alvarado,&nbsp;Bruno Rapidel,&nbsp;Clémentine Allinne","doi":"10.1007/s13593-024-00948-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-024-00948-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>There has been substantial research on shade in cacao agroforestry systems, with most studies focusing on the impact of the shade cast by the associated shade trees on microclimate and yield. However, to our knowledge, no cacao agroforestry studies have explored how shade and its microclimate-modifying capacity influence the agrosystem’s pest and disease regulating service. Utilizing thermal hygrometers and hemispherical photographs, we measured temperature and relative humidity during the dry and wet seasons as well as the shade of associated trees (associated shade), combining the latter with cacao self-shade (total shade). This approach enabled us to uncover how each shade type influences microclimate, yields, and pests and diseases beneath cacao trees. Additionally, we developed a novel method to estimate attainable yield, actual yield, and yield loss due to pests and diseases. Using yield loss as a proxy of the pest and disease regulating service and structural equation modeling, we built a model depicting the interaction network between shade types and their role in cacao pest and disease regulation. Our results showed that each shade type uniquely influenced cacao agroecosystem outcomes, with the associated shade negatively impacting attainable yield and total shade having a positive effect. Associated shade also mitigated the dry season microclimate and limited pest and disease occurrence. Notably, shade alone was not the sole pest and disease-related yield loss driver; it is part of a complex interaction network. These innovative shade measurement and yield loss estimation methods have enhanced enhance our understanding of pest and disease regulation. Conclusively, different management approaches for associated shade and total shade are crucial for optimizing yields and pest and disease regulation in cacao agroforestry systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139705053","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":"Influence of soil management on vegetative growth, yield, and wine quality parameters in an organic “Pedro Ximénez” vineyard: field and UAV data","authors":"Pilar Ramírez-Pérez,&nbsp;Francisca López-Granados,&nbsp;Juan Manuel León-Gutiérrez,&nbsp;Francisco Javier Mesas-Carrascosa,&nbsp;Fernando Pérez-Porras,&nbsp;Jorge Torres-Sánchez","doi":"10.1007/s13593-024-00946-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-024-00946-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The use of cover crops in vineyards is expected to increase due to the strong encouragement by European agricultural policy and their contribution to reducing soil erosion. This paper presents the results obtained over three years in a vineyard of the “Pedro Ximénez” variety organically grown in southern Spain. The influence on production, vigor, and grape quality of a seeded cover crop versus tillage was compared using field data and imagery acquired by an uncrewed aerial vehicle. The vines under tillage showed greater vegetative development and yield than those with cover crops between rows. The grapes from the vines under the cover crop treatment ripened earlier and presented higher values of total soluble solids, characteristics that can be useful in the protected designation of origin where the study field is placed. However, the strong yield reduction caused by the cover crop treatment encourages future research to explore other cover crop species that could contribute to improving soil properties without compromising the profitability of the vineyard. This is the first time that the influence of cover cropping on the agronomic and oenological parameters of organically grown white vineyard varieties such as “Pedro Ximénez” has been assessed using field and UAV data.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-024-00946-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139700802","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":"Options to reduce ranges in critical soil nutrient levels used in fertilizer recommendations by accounting for site conditions and methodology: A review","authors":"Siatwiinda M. Siatwiinda,&nbsp;Gerard H. Ros,&nbsp;Olusegun A. Yerokun,&nbsp;Wim de Vries","doi":"10.1007/s13593-023-00943-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-023-00943-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Fertilizer recommendations (FR) to improve yields and increase profitability are based on relationships between crop yields and soil nutrient levels measured via soil extraction methods. Within these FR, critical soil nutrient (CSN) levels are used to distinguish nutrient deficient from non-deficient soils. The variation in CSN levels is large, implying a risk of over- or under-fertilization. Here, we review and assess the factors influencing the derivation of CSN levels in order to increase both their reliability and applicability within FR systems. The evaluated factors included site conditions, i.e., crop type and location as a surrogate for climate and soil properties, and methodological factors, i.e., the experimental approach (field or pot experiments), and statistical methods and cut-off point. Results showed that the range of values used to define the medium soil fertility classes coincided with the range of CSN levels derived from experimental data. We show that harmonizing methodological aspects can substantially reduce the uncertainty in the CSN levels (&gt; 50%), implying a substantial enhancement of the reliability of FR systems. Inclusion of site conditions might further improve the reliability. To enable reduction in CSN levels requires well-documented field experiments and standardization of data collection and analysis. We foresee the potential for generic FR systems that make use of reliable data, more process-based interpretation of nutrient pools and accounting for the interactions among nutrients.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-023-00943-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139644106","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":"The tricot approach: an agile framework for decentralized on-farm testing supported by citizen science. A retrospective","authors":"Kauê de Sousa,&nbsp;Jacob van Etten,&nbsp;Rhys Manners,&nbsp;Erna Abidin,&nbsp;Rekiya O. Abdulmalik,&nbsp;Bello Abolore,&nbsp;Kwabena Acheremu,&nbsp;Stephen Angudubo,&nbsp;Amilcar Aguilar,&nbsp;Elizabeth Arnaud,&nbsp;Adventina Babu,&nbsp;Mirna Barrios,&nbsp;Grecia Benavente,&nbsp;Ousmane Boukar,&nbsp;Jill E. Cairns,&nbsp;Edward Carey,&nbsp;Happy Daudi,&nbsp;Maryam Dawud,&nbsp;Gospel Edughaen,&nbsp;James Ellison,&nbsp;Williams Esuma,&nbsp;Sanusi Gaya Mohammed,&nbsp;Jeske van de Gevel,&nbsp;Marvin Gomez,&nbsp;Joost van Heerwaarden,&nbsp;Paula Iragaba,&nbsp;Edith Kadege,&nbsp;Teshale M. Assefa,&nbsp;Sylvia Kalemera,&nbsp;Fadhili Salum Kasubiri,&nbsp;Robert Kawuki,&nbsp;Yosef Gebrehawaryat Kidane,&nbsp;Michael Kilango,&nbsp;Heneriko Kulembeka,&nbsp;Adofo Kwadwo,&nbsp;Brandon Madriz,&nbsp;Ester Masumba,&nbsp;Julius Mbiu,&nbsp;Thiago Mendes,&nbsp;Anna Müller,&nbsp;Mukani Moyo,&nbsp;Kiddo Mtunda,&nbsp;Tawanda Muzhingi,&nbsp;Dean Muungani,&nbsp;Emmanuel T. Mwenda,&nbsp;Ganga Rao V. P. R. Nadigatla,&nbsp;Ann Ritah Nanyonjo,&nbsp;Sognigbé N’Danikou,&nbsp;Athanase Nduwumuremyi,&nbsp;Jean Claude Nshimiyimana,&nbsp;Ephraim Nuwamanya,&nbsp;Hyacinthe Nyirahabimana,&nbsp;Martina Occelli,&nbsp;Olamide Olaosebikan,&nbsp;Patrick Obia Ongom,&nbsp;Berta Ortiz-Crespo,&nbsp;Richard Oteng-Fripong,&nbsp;Alfred Ozimati,&nbsp;Durodola Owoade,&nbsp;Carlos F. Quiros,&nbsp;Juan Carlos Rosas,&nbsp;Placide Rukundo,&nbsp;Pieter Rutsaert,&nbsp;Milindi Sibomana,&nbsp;Neeraj Sharma,&nbsp;Nestory Shida,&nbsp;Jonathan Steinke,&nbsp;Reuben Ssali,&nbsp;Jose Gabriel Suchini,&nbsp;Béla Teeken,&nbsp;Theophilus Kwabla Tengey,&nbsp;Hale Ann Tufan,&nbsp;Silver Tumwegamire,&nbsp;Elyse Tuyishime,&nbsp;Jacob Ulzen,&nbsp;Muhammad Lawan Umar,&nbsp;Samuel Onwuka,&nbsp;Tessy Ugo Madu,&nbsp;Rachel C. Voss,&nbsp;Mary Yeye,&nbsp;Mainassara Zaman-Allah","doi":"10.1007/s13593-023-00937-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s13593-023-00937-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Matching crop varieties to their target use context and user preferences is a challenge faced by many plant breeding programs serving smallholder agriculture. Numerous participatory approaches proposed by CGIAR and other research teams over the last four decades have attempted to capture farmers’ priorities/preferences and crop variety field performance in representative growing environments through experimental trials with higher external validity. Yet none have overcome the challenges of scalability, data validity and reliability, and difficulties in capturing socio-economic and environmental heterogeneity. Building on the strengths of these attempts, we developed a new data-generation approach, called <i>triadic comparison of technology options</i> (tricot). Tricot is a decentralized experimental approach supported by crowdsourced citizen science. In this article, we review the development, validation, and evolution of the tricot approach, through our own research results and reviewing the literature in which tricot approaches have been successfully applied. The first results indicated that tricot-aggregated farmer-led assessments contained information with adequate validity and that reliability could be achieved with a large sample. Costs were lower than current participatory approaches. Scaling the tricot approach into a large on-farm testing network successfully registered specific climatic effects of crop variety performance in representative growing environments. Tricot’s recent application in plant breeding networks in relation to decision-making has (i) advanced plant breeding lines recognizing socio-economic heterogeneity, and (ii) identified consumers’ preferences and market demands, generating alternative breeding design priorities. We review lessons learned from tricot applications that have enabled a large scaling effort, which should lead to stronger decision-making in crop improvement and increased use of improved varieties in smallholder agriculture.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7721,"journal":{"name":"Agronomy for Sustainable Development","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13593-023-00937-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139565649","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}