Belowground functioning of agroforestry systems: recent advances and perspectives
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EDITORIAL
Belowground functioning of agroforestry systems: recent advances and perspectives Rémi Cardinael & Zhun Mao & Claire Chenu & Philippe Hinsinger
Received: 13 May 2020 / Accepted: 6 July 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Introduction Growing crops or pastures in intimate combination with trees is an ancient practice that farmers have been using throughout the world. Globally, it is estimated that agroforestry systems cover about 1 billion hectare of land (Zomer et al. 2014, 2016). Agroforestry systems are often seen by farmers and practitioners as a way to diversify production, income and services (Abdulai et al. 2018). These systems are still very common in developing
Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers R. Cardinael CIRAD, UPR AIDA, Harare, Zimbabwe R. Cardinael AIDA, University of Montpellier, CIRAD, Montpellier, France R. Cardinael (*) Crop Science Department, University of Zimbabwe, Mt. Pleasant, Box MP167, Harare, Zimbabwe e-mail: [email protected] Z. Mao AMAP, University of Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France C. Chenu UMR Ecosys, INRAE, Université Paris Saclay, AgroParisTechThiverval-Grignon, France P. Hinsinger Eco&Sols, University of Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, IRD, Montpellier, France
countries. In developed countries where the intensification and specialization of agriculture have resulted in a massive loss of tree cover (Eichhorn et al. 2006) and in negative impacts on the environment (Tilman et al. 2001), agroforestry systems are currently being reconsidered and spreading (den Herder et al. 2017). Agroforestry systems include a diversity of practices ranging from complex associations found in homegardens, multistrata systems or agroforests, to simpler systems such as alley crops, riparian plantings, shelterbelts, windbreaks or hedgerows (Nair 1985). The association between trees and crops or pastures can be simultaneous (spatial interaction) or sequential (temporal interaction) (Somarriba 1992; Torquebiau 2000). The management of the aboveground part of agroforestry systems to deal with the competition for light has received considerable interest (e.g. Charbonnier et al. 2013; Bouttier et al. 2014). However, trees also modify soil properties through numerous processes (Rhoades 1997), and tree-soil-crop interactions have been a research topic for decades (Szott et al. 1991; Lehmann et al. 1998; Schroth 1998; Ilstedt et al. 2016; van Noordwijk et al. 2019). Tree and crop root systems play a crucial role in these interactions (Schroth 1995; van Noordwijk et al. 1996; Smith et al. 1999; Bayala et al. 2015) and are involved in most of belowground processes (Bardgett et al. 2014), which determine soil functions and, ultimately, a large set of ecosystem services. A better understanding of these processes at the interface between soil science and agroforestry, such as soil organic carbon sequestration or water infiltration, could thus help reaching some the United Nations
Plant Soil
Sustainable Development Goals (Keesstra et al. 2016; van Noordwijk
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