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Research papers on Sustainable agriculture

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  1. Biochar Production and Characteristics, Its Impacts on Soil Health, Crop Production, and Yield Enhancement: A Review

    Shahbaz Khan, S. Irshad, K. Mehmood, et al. · 2024 · Plants · 267 citations

    Rapid urban expansion and a booming population are placing immense pressure on our agricultural systems, leading to detrimental impacts on soil fertility and overall health. Due to the extensive use of agrochemicals in agriculture, the necessity to meet the expanding demand for food has also resulted in unsustainable farming practices. Around the world, biochar, a multipurpose carbonaceous material, is being used to concurrently solve issues with enhancing soil fertility, plant growth, and development under both normal and stressful circumstances. It improves water retention, fosters nutrient absorption, and promotes microbial activity, creating a fertile environment that supports sustainabl

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  3. Conservation agriculture improves soil health and sustains crop yields after long-term warming

    Jialing Teng, Ruixing Hou, Jennifer A. J. Dungait, et al. · 2024 · Nature Communications · 161 citations

    Climate warming threatens global food security by exacerbating pressures on degraded soils under intensive crop production. Conservation agriculture is promoted as a sustainable solution that improves soil health and sustains crop yields in a changing climate, but these benefits may be affected by long-term warming. Here, we investigate the effects of conservation agriculture compared to conventional agriculture on 17 soil properties, microbial diversity and crop yields, during eight-years' experimental warming. An overall positive effect of warming on soil health over time under conservation agriculture is characterized by linear increases in soil organic carbon and microbial biomass carbon

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  4. The Role of Nano-Fertilizers in Sustainable Agriculture: Boosting Crop Yields and Enhancing Quality

    Mcholomah Annalisa Kekeli, Quanlong Wang, Y. Rui · 2025 · Plants · 75 citations

    With the rising need for sustainable agricultural practices, nano-fertilizers have emerged as an innovative alternative to traditional fertilizers. These advanced fertilizers enhance nutrient use efficiency, promote crop growth, and minimize environmental harm by enabling precise nutrient delivery. This review evaluates various nano-fertilizer application techniques and their influence on plant growth, yield, and quality. Additionally, it explores their interactions with soil composition and microbial communities, emphasizing their role in enzymatic activity and nutrient cycling. While nano-fertilizers offer significant benefits, challenges such as proper dosage regulation, potential toxicit

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  7. Soil microbiomes: a promising strategy for boosting crop yield and advancing sustainable agriculture

    Komal Pandey, Prof. (Dr.) Baljeet Singh Saharan · 2025 · Discover Agriculture · 49 citations

    Agricultural intensification, driven by the excessive use of agrochemicals (e.g., fertilizers and pesticides), simplified cropping systems (e.g., monocropping, tillage, and heavy machinery), and exacerbated by climate-related stressors (e.g., drought, salinity, and flooding), has led to profound and long-lasting negative effects on soil health and ecosystem balance. In contrast, soil microbiomes present a promising avenue for sustainable agriculture, offering the potential to increase crop yields, enhance nutrient use efficiency, bolster plant resistance to environmental stresses, and improve overall plant health. Recent innovations in this field focus on leveraging soil microbiomes through

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  9. Advancing biofertilizers: the evolution from single-strain formulations to synthetic microbial communities (SynCom) for sustainable agriculture

    Malini Singh, Supriya Jha, Devashish Pathak, et al. · 2025 · Discover Plants · 43 citations

    The concept of the microbiome has transformed the approach to biofertilizers, offering a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers. Biofertilizers enhance plant growth, improve soil health, and protect crops from pests and diseases, making them central to modern agriculture. This review discussed the biofertilizer evolution from early single-strain products to advanced multistrain formulations to the hypothesis of synthetic microbial communities (SynCom). Microbes play a crucial role in agriculture by fixing nitrogen, recycling nutrients like carbon and phosphorus, improving soil fertility, and managing organic waste. They also reduce environmental pollutants and suppo

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  10. Bio-stimulant In Improving Crop Yield And Soil Health

    Kadam Sharad Rajesaheb, Suganya Subramanian, P. Boominathan, et al. · 2024 · Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis · 30 citations

    ABSTRACT Bio-stimulant has emerged as promising tool in modern agriculture, offering potential solution to enhance the crop productivity in addition to promoting sustainable soil management practices. Bio-stimulants represent natural formulation that enhance the overall well-being, vitality, and development of plants while, safe guarding them from biotic and abiotic stresses. They had successfully used in both Agri-horticultural crops. A variety of bio-stimulants, such as extracts from seaweed, humic acids (HA), fulvic acids (FA), enzymes, amino acids, protein hydrolyzates, nitrogen-containing compounds, beneficial microorganisms and small organic molecules, have been utilized to augment bot

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  11. Harnessing synthetic microbial communities for sustainable agriculture: Enhancing soil health and crop yields

    Yunhe Cui, Yue Tao, Yang Luo, et al. · 2025 · Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology · 24 citations

    Synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) are emerging as a crucial strategy to address pressing global challenges such as rapid population growth and declining land quality. Designed to emulate natural microbial structures and functions, these communities offer significant advantages in enhancing crop yields and improving soil health. SynComs entail the concurrent cultivation of diverse functional microbial populations under controlled conditions. By introducing specific rhizosphere microbes, SynComs enhance nutrient uptake, regulate hormone levels, promote root development, and bolster plant resilience to stresses, such as drought and salinization. Additionally, SynComs suppress pathogens

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  13. Effect of Irrigation Water Quality and Soil Compost Treatment on Salinity Management to Improve Soil Health and Plant Yield

    S. Suvendran, David Johnson, Miguel F. Acevedo, et al. · 2024 · Water · 22 citations

    Increasing soil salinity and degraded irrigation water quality are major challenges for agriculture. This study investigated the effects of irrigation water quality and incorporating compost (3% dry mass in soil) on minimizing soil salinization and promoting sustainable cropping systems. A greenhouse study used brackish water (electrical conductivity of 2010 µS/cm) and agricultural water (792 µS/cm) to irrigate Dundale pea and clay loam soil. Compost treatment enhanced soil water retention with soil moisture content above 0.280 m3/m3, increased plant carbon assimilation by ~30%, improved plant growth by >50%, and reduced NO3− leaching from the soil by 16% and 23.5% for agricultural and brack

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  14. Systematic Review of Machine Learning Applications in Sustainable Agriculture: Insights on Soil Health and Crop Improvement

    Vicky Anand, Priyadarshani Rajput, T. Minkina, et al. · 2025 · Phyton · 21 citations

    : The digital revolution in agriculture has introduced data-driven decision-making, where artificial intelligence, especially machine learning (ML), helps analyze large and varied data sources to improve soil quality and crop growth indices. Thus, a thorough evaluation of scientific publications from 2007 to 2024 was conducted via the Scopus and Web of Science databases with the PRISMA guidelines to determine the realistic role of ML in soil health and crop improvement under the SDGs. In addition, the present review focused to identify and analyze the trends, challenges, and opportunities associated with the successful implementation of ML in agriculture. The assessment of various databases

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  15. Compost Application Enhances Soil Health and Maintains Crop Yield: Insights From 56 Farmer‐Managed Arable Fields

    Anna Edlinger, Chantal Herzog, Gina Garland, et al. · 2025 · Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment · 21 citations

    Improving soil health while maintaining crop yield is a key challenge for farmers. So far, only a few studies assessed the effects of compost and solid digestate application on soil health and plant yield under practical on‐farm conditions across both organic and conventional cropping systems.This study examined 56 arable fields in Switzerland, managed either conventionally (n = 39) or organically (n = 17) by individual farmers. Fields were categorised based on their fertilisation history: standard fertilisation (n = 21), including livestock manure, slurry, and mineral fertilisers (reference), or with additional compost (n = 26) or solid digestate (n = 9) amendments. Soil health was assessed

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  16. The mechanism of using magnetized-ionized water in combination with organic fertilizer to enhance soil health and cotton yield.

    Shu-Dong Lin, Quan-Jiu Wang, Ming-Jiang Deng, et al. · 2024 · The Science of the total environment · 19 citations

    Addressing critical challenges in sustainable agriculture, notably water scarcity and soil degradation, necessitates innovative irrigation and fertilization methods. This investigation thoroughly assessed the effects of combining inorganic and organic fertilizers under brackish water irrigation, particularly focusing on magnetized-ionized brackish water-a promising solution for these challenges. The study shows that the integration of inorganic and organic fertilizers notably enhances soil water retention and salt leaching when applied with magnetized-ionized brackish water irrigation (MIBIO treatment), with water storage rate and salt accumulation rate observed at -0.454 and -0.075, respect

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  18. Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Utilizing Composted Sludge Fertilizer for Improved Crop Yield and Soil Health

    Lijun Li, He Li, Lihong Tong, et al. · 2024 · Agronomy · 16 citations

    It is desirable to recycle sewage sludge as fertilizer for agricultural fields. The application of sludge to agricultural soils is a measure that replaces chemical fertilizers and plays an important role in improving soil’s physicochemical and biological properties. However, there are concerns that the pollutants in sewage sludge will cause negative impacts on soil health. To closely monitor the soil–sludge interactions, a field study was conducted over a 20-year period in the North China Plain. In this study, the long-term effects of sewage sludge on the soil properties and soil microbial diversity were investigated. We examined the effects of various fertilization methods (control, chemica

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  19. Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture for Restoring the Soil Health and Increasing Rice Productivity as Adaptation Strategy to Climate Change in Indonesia

    T. Simarmata, M. K. Proyoga, D. Herdiyantoro, et al. · 2021 · IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science · 15 citations

    Climate change (CC) is real and threatens the livelihood of most smallholder farmers who reside along the coastal area. The CC causes the rise of temperature (0.2-0.3°C/decade) and sea level (SRL = 5 mm/year), drought and floods to occur more frequently, the change of rainfall intensity and pattern and shifting of planting season and leads to the decreasing of crop yield or yield loss. Most of the paddy soil has been exhausted and degraded. About 50% of the rice field along the coastline is effected by high salinity and causes significant yield losses. The research was aimed to summarize the results of the system of organic based aerobic rice intensification (known as IPATBO) and of two clim

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  20. Impact of tillage and fertilizer management on Soybean-Cotton rotation system: effects on yield, plant nutrient uptake, and soil fertility for sustainable agriculture

    M. Pendke, B. V. Asewar, P. Gourkhede, et al. · 2025 · Scientific Reports · 14 citations

    Agricultural productivity in semiarid regions is challenged by low soil fertility, limited water availability, and unsustainable farming practices. Semiarid vertisols, commonly found in such regions, require efficient management practices to maintain long-term soil health and optimize crop yields. This study aimed to evaluate the sustainability of yield, rainwater use efficiency (RWUE), and monetary returns in a crop rotation system involving soybean and cotton under semiarid vertisols over a 10-year period (2011–2020). Fifteen treatment combinations of tillage and fertilizer were applied, with tillage treatments consisting of conventional tillage, reduced tillage with interculture, and redu

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  21. Enhancing prediction of crop yield and soil health assessment for sustainable agriculture using machine learning approach

    Kapil Netaji Vhatkar, Shweta Ashish Koparde, Sonali Kothari, et al. · 2025 · MethodsX · 13 citations

    Improving soil health evaluation and crop output forecasting are essential for developing sustainable agricultural methods. By applying data-driven insights, farmers may optimize resources, increase productivity, and promote environmental sustainability. The intricacy of environmental conditions and the lack of access to trustworthy data make it difficult to anticipate crop yields and evaluate soil health accurately. The goal of this research is•to make sophisticated models for precise crop production forecasting and thorough evaluation of soil health,•to improve sustainability by optimize farming methods, and•to assist farmers in making well-informed decisions.Iterative Partitioning-Ensembl

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  22. Bacillus-Based Biofertilizer Influences Soil Microbiome to Enhance Soil Health for Sustainable Agriculture

    Fung-Ling Ng, Tsung-Chun Lin, Erick Wang, et al. · 2025 · Sustainability · 9 citations

    Identifying natural alternatives to conventional chemical fertilizers is critical to preventing the widespread soil degradation and environmental damage caused by modern agriculture. Microbe-based biofertilizers have emerged as promising candidates due to their natural ability to improve nutrient bioavailability and promote plant growth. However, how biofertilizers affect the soil microbiome remains unclear. To investigate the impact of biofertilizer application on soil microbiome, LNP-1, a strain of Bacillus subtilis, was used as a biofertilizer in conjunction with no fertilizer, organic fertilizer, and chemical fertilizer for the cultivation of cabbage. Soil samples were collected and anal

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  23. Vermifiltration and sustainable agriculture: unveiling the soil health-boosting potential of liquid waste vermicompost

    Halima Malal, Veronica Suarez Romero, W. Horwath, et al. · 2024 · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 7 citations

    Vermifiltration is a promising technique that can help recover nutrients from wastewater for further use in agriculture. We conducted a field experiment to assess the effectiveness of vermicompost produced from the vermifiltration of liquid waste (manure and food production waste) and how it can affect the soil health and yield of a squash crop. We tested the effect of three rates of vermicompost (low, medium, and high) applied over two consecutive years and measured physical, chemical, and biological soil health indicators, squash yield, and nutritional status. The results showed that the use of vermicompost, especially at a high rate, increased total soil carbon, total nitrogen, potentiall

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  24. Mycorrhizal Fungi in Sustainable Agriculture: Enhancing Crop Yields and Soil Health

    Prakash Pralhad Sarwade, Kavita Narayan Gaisamudre, Rajesh Shrirangrao Gaikwad · 2024 · Plantae Scientia · 6 citations

    Mycorrhizal fungi, beneficial soil microorganisms, offer potential for sustainable agriculture. This literature review explores their ability to enhance crop production and soil quality by forming symbiotic relationships with plant roots, expanding root networks, and improving nutrient absorption, particularly phosphorus, nitrogen, and micronutrients. They also enhance drought resistance and water efficiency. Research indicates significant yield increases with appropriate mycorrhizal fungi strains in various agricultural systems. Beyond yield, these fungi improve soil health by enhancing structure, aggregation, water retention, fertility, and nutrient cycling, and by breaking down organic ma

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