Integrated agricultural system: A dynamic concept for improving soil quality

Abstract

Integrated agricultural systems (IAS) present a potent solution to address global food shortages by integrating crops, livestock, and forests in a rotational or sequential manner on a single piece of land. This study aims to explore current advances in IAS and their impacts on soil quality improvement. The study also shows the ability of IAS to enhance soil carbon sequestration and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Compared to the monoculture systems, the combined production of crops, livestock and forest can improve soil quality attributes including physical properties (aggregate stability, water infiltration, pore distribution and soil water storage), chemical properties (exchangeable bases, base saturation, cation exchange capacity, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and exchangeable potassium), and biological properties (microbial community and biochemical activities). The enhancement of soil quality due to the adoption of IAS can reduce the dependency on inorganic fertilizer application for increasing global food production. Furthermore, the diverse components in IAS can be harnessed to improve environmental protection by increasing soil carbon storage while limiting the emissions of methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Therefore, the adoption of IAS offers the opportunity to sustainably manage soil environment while increasing food production.