Reckling Moritz, Döring Thomas F, Bergkvist Göran, Stoddard Frederick L, Watson Christine A, Seddig Sylvia, Chmielewski Frank-M, Bachinger Johann
1Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany.
2Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Agron Sustain Dev. 2018;38(6):63. doi: 10.1007/s13593-018-0541-3. Epub 2018 Nov 2.
Grain legumes produce high-quality protein for food and feed, and potentially contribute to sustainable cropping systems, but they are grown on only 1.5% of European arable land. Low temporal yield stability is one of the reasons held responsible for the low proportion of grain legumes, without sufficient quantitative evidence. The objective of this study was to compare the yield stability of grain legumes with other crop species in a northern European context and accounting for the effects of scale in the analysis and the data. To avoid aggregation biases in the yield data, we used data from long-term field experiments. The experiments included grain legumes (lupin, field pea, and faba bean), other broad-leaved crops, spring, and winter cereals. Experiments were conducted in the UK, Sweden, and Germany. To compare yield stability between grain legumes and other crops, we used a scale-adjusted yield stability indicator that accounts for the yield differences between crops following Taylor's Power Law. Here, we show that temporal yield instability of grain legumes (30%) was higher than that of autumn-sown cereals (19%), but lower than that of other spring-sown broad-leaved crops (35%), and only slightly greater than spring-sown cereals (27%). With the scale-adjusted yield stability indicator, we estimated 21% higher yield stability for grain legumes compared to a standard stability measure. These novel findings demonstrate that grain legume yields are as reliable as those of other spring-sown crops in major production systems of northern Europe, which could influence the current negative perception on grain legume cultivation. Initiatives are still needed to improve the crops agronomy to provide higher and more stable yields in future.
食用豆类作物能产出高质量的粮食和饲料蛋白，对可持续种植系统有潜在贡献，但它们在欧洲仅占耕地的1.5%。产量的时间稳定性低是食用豆类作物种植比例低的原因之一，但缺乏充分的定量证据。本研究的目的是在北欧背景下比较食用豆类作物与其他作物品种的产量稳定性，并在分析和数据中考虑规模效应。为避免产量数据中的汇总偏差，我们使用了长期田间试验的数据。试验包括食用豆类作物（羽扇豆、豌豆和蚕豆）、其他阔叶作物、春播和冬播谷物。试验在英国、瑞典和德国进行。为比较食用豆类作物与其他作物的产量稳定性，我们使用了一种经规模调整的产量稳定性指标，该指标根据泰勒幂定律考虑了作物间的产量差异。在此，我们表明，食用豆类作物的产量时间不稳定性（30%）高于秋播谷物（19%），但低于其他春播阔叶作物（35%），仅略高于春播谷物（27%）。使用经规模调整的产量稳定性指标，我们估计食用豆类作物的产量稳定性比标准稳定性度量高21%。这些新发现表明，在北欧的主要生产系统中，食用豆类作物的产量与其他春播作物一样可靠，这可能会影响目前对食用豆类作物种植的负面看法。未来仍需要采取措施改善这些作物的农艺学，以提供更高、更稳定的产量。
