Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact

Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolynErthygladolygiad gan gymheiriaid

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Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact. / Costa, Marcela P.; Reckling, Moritz; Chadwick, Dave et al.
Yn: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Cyfrol 5, 656005, 13.04.2021.

Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolynErthygladolygiad gan gymheiriaid

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Costa, MP, Reckling, M, Chadwick, D, Rees, RM, Saget, S, Williams, M & Styles, D 2021, 'Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact', Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, cyfrol. 5, 656005. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005, https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005

APA

Costa, M. P., Reckling, M., Chadwick, D., Rees, R. M., Saget, S., Williams, M., & Styles, D. (2021). Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 5, Erthygl 656005. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005, https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005

CBE

Costa MP, Reckling M, Chadwick D, Rees RM, Saget S, Williams M, Styles D. 2021. Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 5:Article 656005. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005, https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005

MLA

VancouverVancouver

Costa MP, Reckling M, Chadwick D, Rees RM, Saget S, Williams M et al. Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 2021 Ebr 13;5:656005. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005, 10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005

Author

Costa, Marcela P. ; Reckling, Moritz ; Chadwick, Dave et al. / Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact. Yn: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 2021 ; Cyfrol 5.

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Legume-Modified Rotations Deliver Nutrition With Lower Environmental Impact

AU - Costa, Marcela P.

AU - Reckling, Moritz

AU - Chadwick, Dave

AU - Rees, Robert M.

AU - Saget, Sophie

AU - Williams, Michael

AU - Styles, David

PY - 2021/4/13

Y1 - 2021/4/13

N2 - Introducing legumes to crop rotations could contribute toward healthy and sustainable diet transitions, but the current evidence base is fragmented across studies that evaluate specific aspects of sustainability and nutrition in isolation. Few previous studies have accounted for interactions among crops, or the aggregate nutritional output of rotations, to benchmark the efficiency of modified cropping sequences. We applied life cycle assessment to compare the environmental efficiency of ten rotations across three European climatic zones in terms of delivery of human and livestock nutrition. The introduction of grain legumes into conventional cereal and oilseed rotations delivered human nutrition at lower environmental cost for most of the 16 impact categories studied. In Scotland, the introduction of a legume crop into the typical rotation reduced external nitrogen requirements by almost half to achieve the same human nutrition potential. In terms of livestock nutrition, legume-modified rotations also delivered more digestible protein at lower environmental cost compared with conventional rotations. However, legume-modified rotations delivered less metabolisable energy for livestock per hectare-year in two out of the three zones, and at intermediate environmental cost for one zone. Our results show that choice of functional unit has an important influence on the apparent efficiency of different crop rotations, and highlight a need for more research to develop functional units representing multiple nutritional attributes of crops for livestock feed. Nonetheless, results point to an important role for increased legume cultivation in Europe to contribute to the farm and diet sustainability goals of the European Union's Farm to Fork strategy.

AB - Introducing legumes to crop rotations could contribute toward healthy and sustainable diet transitions, but the current evidence base is fragmented across studies that evaluate specific aspects of sustainability and nutrition in isolation. Few previous studies have accounted for interactions among crops, or the aggregate nutritional output of rotations, to benchmark the efficiency of modified cropping sequences. We applied life cycle assessment to compare the environmental efficiency of ten rotations across three European climatic zones in terms of delivery of human and livestock nutrition. The introduction of grain legumes into conventional cereal and oilseed rotations delivered human nutrition at lower environmental cost for most of the 16 impact categories studied. In Scotland, the introduction of a legume crop into the typical rotation reduced external nitrogen requirements by almost half to achieve the same human nutrition potential. In terms of livestock nutrition, legume-modified rotations also delivered more digestible protein at lower environmental cost compared with conventional rotations. However, legume-modified rotations delivered less metabolisable energy for livestock per hectare-year in two out of the three zones, and at intermediate environmental cost for one zone. Our results show that choice of functional unit has an important influence on the apparent efficiency of different crop rotations, and highlight a need for more research to develop functional units representing multiple nutritional attributes of crops for livestock feed. Nonetheless, results point to an important role for increased legume cultivation in Europe to contribute to the farm and diet sustainability goals of the European Union's Farm to Fork strategy.

KW - Sustainable Food Systems

KW - legumes

KW - nutritional functional unit

KW - rotation systems

KW - animal feed

KW - human food chain

U2 - 10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005

DO - 10.3389/fsufs.2021.656005

M3 - Article

VL - 5

JO - Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

JF - Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

SN - 2571-581X

M1 - 656005

ER -