ClimateOpenAlex
Heuristic editor, no API keyVerdict: NotableStrategies for sustainable crop production in the Yangtze River Basin of China: insights from field experiments and farm surveys
Introduction Rice-based cropping systems in the Yangtze River Basin of China are diverse.
Key numbers
- 86.2% and 13.3%
- 2.8% in the surveys
- 8.1% lower than that of
VerdictWorth a reader's time today.
Abstract
Introduction Rice-based cropping systems in the Yangtze River Basin of China are diverse. Objectives However, most previous studies have focused primarily on improving the yield, resource use efficiency, or reducing the carbon emissions of individual systems, with few comprehensive comparisons across different systems. Methods To address this knowledge gap, a two-year field experiment combined with a survey of 190 farmers was conducted to evaluate the sustainability performance index (SPI) of four systems in this region: rice−fallow (RF), rice−green manure (RG), rice−wheat (RW), and rice−rapeseed (RR). Results showed that the RR and RW systems achieved higher yields than the RG and RF systems in both experiments and surveys. Results and conclusions Average rice equivalent yields of the RR, RW, and RG systems exceeded those of the RF by 124.5%, 86.2% and 13.3%, respectively, in the experiments (RF, 9.34 t ha -1 ), and by 66.9%, 58.2%, and 2.8% in the surveys (RF, 8.96 t ha -1 ). The RR and RW systems also exhibited higher net energy, radiation use efficiency, and accumulated temperature production efficiency. Although the RR and RW systems incurred higher carbon and agricultural cost, their superior grain yield resulted in a greater net economic income, net ecosystem economic budge, and benefit-cost ratio than the RF and RG systems. Furthermore, the carbon emission intensity of the RR, RW, and RG systems in the experiments was 31.3%, 28.5%, and 8.1% lower than that of the RF (102.2 kg CO 2 eq GJ -1 ), respectively, with corresponding reductions of 22.3%, 39.4%, and 25.8% in the surveys (RF, 85.7 kg CO 2 eq GJ -1 ). Overall, the RR and RW systems exhibited higher SPI with enhanced productivity, resource use efficiency, and economic benefits, despite comparable or marginally increased environmental impacts.
The editor's rubric
| Dimension | Level | Weight | What that level means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leverage | ███░░ 3 | 16% | A method or resource many groups across the field will adopt within a year. |
| Magnitude | ███░░ 3 | 20% | Large gain: roughly 2x, or a clear new state of the art on a hard, unsaturated problem. |
| Evidence | ███░░ 3 | 20% | Solid: multiple benchmarks or cohorts, ablations, fair baselines, released code or data. |
| Novelty | ██░░░ 2 | 10% | A new combination of known ideas. |
| Trajectory | ███░░ 3 | 14% | A clear path to scale. |
| Stakes | ███░░ 3 | 20% | Meaningful benefit to many people within a few years. |
Editor’s rationale
Heuristic triage from title and abstract text only, not a reading of the paper. Cues found: breadth (many tasks); gains (relative gain, outperforms); scale (efficient); stakes (energy, climate).
How the score was computed
- Merit
- 5.8 / 10
- Adjusted merit
- 4.8 / 10
- Attention
- 0%
- Freshness
- 91%
- Citations0 (reference 15, via openalex, Oct 3, 2026, 07:30 UTC)
- Field-weighted citation impact0 (reference 3, via openalex, Oct 3, 2026, 07:30 UTC)