title: Grain production versus resource and environmental costs: towards increasing sustainability of nutrient use in China.
abstract: Over the past five decades, Chinese grain production has increased 4-fold, from 110 Mt in 1961 to 557 Mt in 2014, with less than 9% of the world's arable land feeding 22% of the world's population, indicating a substantial contribution to global food security. However, compared with developed economies, such as the USA and the European Union, more than half of the increased crop production in China can be attributed to a rapid increase in the consumption of chemicals, particularly fertilizers. Excessive fertilization has caused low nutrient use efficiency and high environmental costs in grain production. We analysed the key requirements underpinning increased sustainability of crop production in China, as follows: (i) enhance nutrient use efficiency and reduce nutrient losses by fertilizing roots not soil to maximize root/rhizosphere efficiency with innovative root zone nutrient management; (ii) improve crop productivity and resource use efficiency by matching the best agronomic management practices with crop improvement; and (iii) promote technology transfer of the root zone nutrient management to achieve the target of high yields and high efficiency with low environmental risks on a broad scale. Coordinating grain production and environmental protection by increasing the sustainability of nutrient use will be a key step in achieving sustainable crop production in Chinese agriculture.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoqiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lyu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Haigang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Lingyun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Chaochun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Lixing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Rongfeng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China.
authors.forename: Baiwen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Soil Science & Plant Nutrition, School of Earth and Environment, The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley WA 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Zed
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rengel
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Fusuo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Lancaster Environment Centre, University of Lancaster, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, Department of Plant Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China jbshen@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jianbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D000069599:Crop Production / Q000379:methods; D004777:Environment; D005523:Food Supply; D006801:Humans; D009752:Nutritional Status
keywords: Chinese grain production; environmental protection; fertilizer; food security; nutrient use efficiency; resource input; root growth; root zone nutrient management.