以中国半干旱黄土高原地区为例来评价不同耕作体系下的经济效益，水分利用以及土壤保护.docVIP

  Assessment of alternative cropping systems in terms of economic benefit, water use and soil conservation: a case  5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 study in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, China# Jia Yu1, Hu Bin1, Zhao Zhihong1, Li Fengmin1, Wang Xiaoling2, Kadambot H.M.Siddique3** (1. MOE Key Laboratory of Arid and Grassland Ecology, School of Life Science, Lanzhou University, LanZhou 730000; 2. School of Agricultural Science, Henan University of Science ang Technology, HeNan LuoYang 471003; 3. the UWA Institute of Agriculture, the University of Western Anutralia, 35 Stirling Highway Crawley, AW6009, Australia) Abstract: Water and wind erosion are main degradation processes in drylands around the world. In the arid/semi-arid regions, erosion is accentuated by fragile environmental conditions and limited economic and/or technical mitigation alternatives. Cropping systems are regarded as promising tools. The lucerne (Medicago sativa L.)-crop rotation system has long been pushed by policy in the Loess Plateau. However, the adaptability of this system in semi-arid areas is unclear. A 5-year experiment was conducted in Yuzhong, Gansu Province of China (mean annual rainfall 310 mm) to assess adaptability. The results of this study led us to the following conclusions: 1) lucerne is far from a good cropping choice in the semi-arid Loess Plateau in view of ‘immediate’ economic benefit to farmers. Its potential economic benefit needs further investigation considering its value in animal husbandry and ecological service function; 2) lucerne as a high-water-requirement pasture cannot efficiently use water, worse still the soil water deficit caused by lucerne has to be retrieved by the subsequent crop phase; 3) although lucerne has the longest growing season comparing with the annual crops, harvesting in July strongly reduces its soil conservation effectiveness, and the gradual increase in biomass does not offset the effectiveness. Therefore, in the semi-arid Loess plateau with abo