Les légumineuses pour des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires durables
Abstract
Que savons-nous des apports et du potentiel des légumineuses vis-à-vis de la durabilité des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires ? Comment les utiliser pour réduire les dommages et maximiser les bénéfices sur l’environnement, l’agriculture et l’homme ? Si l’on souhaite exploiter leurs atouts, il est indispensable de mieux cerner leurs spécificités et d’analyser les freins à leur développement pour mobiliser les leviers les plus efficaces.
Qu’elles soient fourragères ou à graines, les légumineuses sont les seules cultures capables d’utiliser l’azote présent dans l’air pour fabriquer leurs propres protéines, sans avoir besoin d’apports d’engrais azotés. Cette spécificité, due à une symbiose naturelle, doit engendrer une gestion adaptée de l’ensemble du système de culture pour bénéficier de tous les avantages de ce processus biologique. Plusieurs flux polluants pour l’environnement se trouvent ainsi fortement réduits par rapport aux autres voies d'entrée de l'azote dans le système agricole. L’introduction des légumineuses contribue également à la diversification des systèmes de cultures, qui favorise la biodiversité des écosystèmes et la réduction de l'usage de phytosanitaires. De plus, les différents produits de ces cultures utilisés pour l’alimentation des animaux et des hommes peuvent avoir des effets positifs sur leur nutrition et leur santé.
Fruit d’une sollicitation du comité N,P,C, et d’un collectif d’une soixantaine d’experts, cet ouvrage est une référence sur les légumineuses, centrée sur l’Europe dans le contexte actuel. Il couvre différentes échelles d’analyse, de la plante au territoire, de l’agriculteur au consommateur, de la production à l'environnement. Outil de réflexion sur les sources protéiques, la gestion de l’azote en France et la relation entre légumineuses et durabilité, cet ouvrage souligne également les besoins de connaissances et d’innovations.
... France (Schneider and Huyghe, 2015). Before the 1950s, cereal-legume associations were nevertheless very common in France (Schneider and Huyghe, 2015). ...
... France (Schneider and Huyghe, 2015). Before the 1950s, cereal-legume associations were nevertheless very common in France (Schneider and Huyghe, 2015). The systemisation of intermediate crops would also have a significant effect on reducing the climatic impact of French agriculture (Solagro, 2017). ...
... Legumes fix atmospheric N and thus do not require to be fertilised (Schneider and Huyghe, 2015). ...
European farming systems (FS) are currently dependent on fossil fuels, among other things for the nitrogen fertiliser’s synthesis and the feed import (inputs). However, the global peak oil could be reached by 2030, leading to a price increase of these inputs and a decrease in the capacity of farmers to buy them. This dependence raises questions about the resilience of these FSs, i.e. their ability to maintain food production. The aim of this thesis was to assess the resilience of European FSs to constraints on input imports. To address it, I developed a dynamic nitrogen balance macro-model of a FS with 3 compartments (livestock, plant and soil) and 2 land-uses (permanent grassland and cropland). I explored this model for FSs in France (extensive beef farms, field crops or intensive monogastric farms) and in Portugal (extensive beef farms). I investigated two components of resilience: (1) robustness, i.e. their ability to maintain food production in the face of a progressive decline in input imports, in simulation mode, and (2) adaptability potential, i.e. the changes in crop-livestock compositions that can be envisaged to increase robustness, in multi-objective optimisation mode. I found that specialised French FSs (field crops or intensive monogastric farms) are less robust in the short-term than mixed FSs. In the long-term, the FSs with high feed-food competition (FFC) are the most robust. In optimisation mode, I showed that a decrease in FFC is a compositional change that maximises food production without imported inputs. In the Portuguese FS, I identified a trade-off between beef production robustness and climate change mitigation, which can be alleviated with the combination of agroecological practices. These compositional changes should be implemented as soon as possible to prevent food insecurity in the face of input constraints.
... Les fabacées, plus communément appelées légumineuses, désignent une famille très diversifiée, qui comprend environ 376 espèces en France et 7 000 dans le monde (Schneider et Huyghe, 2015). Les légumineuses sont des plantes dicotylédones caractérisées pour la plupart par des fleurs papilionacées, une gousse contenant les graines et la capacité de fixer l'azote atmosphérique inerte (N2) pour produire ses propres composantes protéiques, grâce à l'établissement d'une association symbiotique avec des bactéries du sol (Herridge et al., 2008 ;Masson-Boivin et Sachs, 2018). ...
... Enfin, les légumes secs (exemple : les lentilles, le pois sec, les haricots verts…) correspondent aux légumineuses à graines récoltées à maturité, et à destination de l'alimentation humaine (De Ron et al., 2017). Les légumineuses jouent un rôle potentiellement déterminant dans les flux d'azote dans les agrosystèmes (Schneider et Huyghe, 2015) et cette propriété en fait un atout pour la construction de nouveaux systèmes de culture économes en intrants fertilisants. ...
... La fixation symbiotique est réalisée par l'intermédiaire d'une réaction enzymatique catalysée par la nitrogénase. Une augmentation de la pression partielle d'oxygène ou même l'élimination de la lumière, induiraient une diminution rapide voir une inhibition de l'activité de cette enzyme après 2 à 3 min (Schneider et Huyghe, 2015). ...
La transition agroécologique vise la triple performance agronomique, écologique et sociétale des exploitations agricoles. Un certain nombre de pratiques agricoles permet d’envisager la construction et le développement de systèmes de culture répondant à ces contraintes. Les légumineuses, par leur capacité à fixer l’azote atmosphérique, sont une alternative intéressante aux intrants azotés. Outre l’absence de fertilisation lors de leur culture, elles fournissent de l’azote à la culture suivante. Il existe cependant un manque de références sur certaines légumineuses à graines et notamment la culture du pois d’hiver. En effet, si des données acquises dans différentes régions françaises sont disponibles, aucune référence n’a été publiée pour la Normandie où la culture du pois d’hiver connaît un récent regain d’intérêt. Cette thèse propose d’évaluer, sur une période de deux ans, l’effet du remplacement du colza par le pois d’hiver en tête de rotation en réalisant une analyse comparative de ces deux successions (pois d’hiver-blé et colza-blé). L’objectif était d’évaluer l’effet de ce changement de tête de rotation (pois d’hiver vs colza) sur l’état biologique du sol et les flux d’azote à différentes échelles spatiotemporelles. Les résultats ont révélé une forte variabilité spatio-temporelle dans la réponse des communautés microbiennes du sol, et mis en évidence l’importance du contexte pédoclimatique dans le déterminisme de l’abondance et de l’activité des communautés microbiennes du sol. Ils ont montré par ailleurs, l’effet positif du pois d’hiver sur la disponibilité de l’azote minéral au cours du cycle cultural et pour les cultures suivantes, ici le blé puis l’orge. Les apports d’azote minéral dans le sol lié à la contribution des parties racinaires via la rhizodéposition et à la dégradation des résidus de culture après récolte ont été évalués au cours de ce travail de thèse. En effet, si la rhizodéposition s’est révélée plus importante sous pois d’hiver, elle n’a pas eu d’impact significatif sur les communautés microbiennes rhizosphériques. Contrairement à ces observations, la dégradation des résidus de culture a significativement modifié la composition des communautés bactériennes en lien avec leur composition biochimique initiale. La succession culturale incluant le pois a enrichi le sol en azote minéral mais des risques de perte d’azote par lixiviation de l’ordre de 23 kg N. ha-1 ont été estimés. Ces constats soulignent l’importance d’adapter la conduite des systèmes de culture incluant le pois d’hiver, en limitant les pertes d’azote par lixiviation et en maximisant son utilisation par les cultures suivantes. Les résultats de ces travaux ont confirmé la diminution des quantités d’engrais azoté utilisées dans la succession contenant le pois, sans préjudice de productivité, ni pour le pois, ni pour la culture suivante, ici, le blé. Finalement, introduire le pois d’hiver dans la rotation de culture en région Normandie, semble permettre de répondre à la problématique d’augmentation du coût des intrants, et aux enjeux de transition agroécologique et d’autonomie protéique régionale.
... In agriculture, nitrogen is one of the key factors for agricultural productivity and competitiveness [1]. It is a building block of living processes, which is used by animals and plants for nucleic acids and proteins synthesis. ...
... In the plant world, legumes have the particularity of exploiting the molecular nitrogen present in abundance in the atmosphere, unlike the other plants which can use only mineral nitrogen present in limited quantities in the soil [1]. This is possible due to symbiosis with soil bacteria, particularly the Rhizobium or Bradyrhizobium genera, which fix nitrogen in specialized root organs called nodules. ...
... This is possible due to symbiosis with soil bacteria, particularly the Rhizobium or Bradyrhizobium genera, which fix nitrogen in specialized root organs called nodules. Therefore, legumes are of great agronomic and zoo-technic interest, both for their own nutrition, animal feed [2], and for improving soil fertility, especially in terms of nitrogen [2,3], since part of the fixed nitrogen returns to the soil by rhizodeposition via nodules as well as roots senescence and also via exudation, particularly of ammonium and amino acids [1]. ...
Aims: The study aimed to evaluate the effect of inoculation by different rhizobacteria on Bituminaria bituminosa plants grown under greenhouse conditions. Study Design: An experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the Department of Biology (Environment and valorization of microbial and plant resources Unit), Faculty of Sciences, Moulay Ismail University-Meknes, from November 2019 to February 2020. Methodology: Eleven species and/or isolates belonging to Rhizobium genus are used to inoculate B. bituminosa plants; similarly, fresh and dry crushed nodules previously collected from B. bituminosa shrubs are tested. The bacterial inoculation effects are evaluated through the estimation of inoculated plants’ fresh and dry shoots weight, root dry weight, total nitrogen, nodules number and fresh weight in comparison to non-inoculated plants. The infectivity and efficiency of the bacteria and the biological nitrogen fixation are also evaluated. Results: The results enable us to select the infective strains on the basis of their positive effect on growth and total nitrogen, in order to produce inoculum for B. bituminosa. Efficiency and biological nitrogen fixation are also very high compared to the control, especially with the B.b1 strain isolated from Bituminaria bituminosa and identified as Rhizobium tibeticum. The fresh nodules crushing is also very efficient. as inoculant. Conclusion: The use of symbiotic complex as Rhizobium tibeticum – Bituminaria bituminosa or an inoculum produced from fresh nodules are an eco-friendly alternative for the design of sylvo-pastoral systems ensuring increased soil fertility, fodder productivity and sustainable agroforestry.
... Another benefit of plant associations is to improve soil quality. Indeed, in comparison to monocultures, plant diversity can increase biomass production and productivity (Tilman et al. 1996;Vergara Cid et al. 2020), soil biodiversity (macrofauna, mesofauna, microfauna) and microorganisms' activity (Gao et al. 2012;Lange et al. 2015;Schneider and Huyghe 2015). ...
... Lange et al. (2015) showed plant diversity increased rhizosphere carbon input into the microbial community inducing an increase in microbial activity. Moreover, white clover is a legume, it has been documented that legumes produce nitrogen-rich root exudates resulting in positive effects on soil microflora such as activity and diversity (Schneider and Huyghe 2015). Legumes can also mobilize phosphorous in rhizosphere, which like nitrogen, is an essential element for organisms. ...
Phytoremediation is a biological soil remediation technique using plants and their associated microorganisms to clean-up contaminated soils and improve soils' quality. We tested whether a co-culture between Miscanthus x giganteus (MxG) and Trifolium repens L. would enhance the soil biological quality. The objective was to determine the influence of MxG in mono- and in co-culture with white clover on the soil microbial activity, biomass and density. MxG was tested in mono- and in co-culture with white clover in a mesocosm over 148 days. The microbial respiration (CO2 production), the microbial biomass and the microbial density of the technosol were measured. Results showed that MxG induced an increase in microbial activity in the technosol compared to the non-planted condition with the co-culture having a greater impact. Regarding the bacterial density, MxG in mono- and in co-culture significantly increased the 16S rDNA gene copy number. The co-culture increased the microbial biomass, the fungal density and stimulated the degrading bacterial population, contrary to the monoculture and the non-planted condition. We can conclude the co-culture between MxG and white clover was more interesting than MxG monoculture in regards to the technosol biological quality and its potential for PAH remediation improvement.
... La sélection de plants à fort métabolisme d'azote, et donc à forte et rapide production de tissus végétatifs peut être particulièrement intéressante pour favoriser le recouvrement et l'asymétrie de compétition dont elles bénéficieraient au détriment de la flore adventice (ibid.). Au contraire de la sélection variétale, utiliser des semences disposant d'une grande diversité génétique pourrait permettre de développer de nouvelles stratégies adaptatives(Schneider et Huyghe, 2015), par exemple de lutte contre des ravageurs (capacité de résistance face aux maladies, exsudats racinaires répulsifs de ravageurs) ou favorisant certains traits métaboliques (nodules accueillant des bactéries métabolisant l'azote atmosphérique…). Des plantes de cultures ayant la capacité de lutte contre les principaux ravageurs permettraient également de réduire les phytosanitaires.Les cultures associées sont des pratiques agroécologiques permettant déjà de favoriser la culture par compétition par rapport aux plantes adventices(Gu et al., 2021;Stefan et al., 2021a). ...
... Par exemple, une espèce peut capter les nutriments en surface alors que d'autres pourraient puiser des ressources plus en profondeur(Hu et al., 2018;Jacoby et Kopriva, 2019). De même, utiliser des cultures associées avec au moins une espèce de Fabaceae symbiotique de Rhizobium métabolisant l'azote de l'air permet d'apporter de l'azote et donc de se substituer en partie à l'apport de fertilisants azotés(Schneider et Huyghe, 2015).Le fait d'inclure des Fabaceae dans la rotation peut également permettre d'apporter de l'azote avec un moindre recours aux fertilisants. 5.2: Culture associée céréales/féverolles. ...
L’agriculture intensive a de nombreuses externalités négatives. De plus en plus d’études mettent en évidence desmoyens de les réduire, en substituant les intrants chimiques par des pratiques agroécologiques, valorisant lessolutions fondées sur la nature. La compétition pourrait être un levier agroécologique pour réguler les plantesadventices et ainsi réduire les pertes de rendement. Si les plantes adventices préemptent les ressources aux plantesde cultures, la capacité compétitrice des plantes de culture et l’effet sur la limitation d’accès aux ressources pourles plantes adventices reste peu étudiée. Cette thèse a pour objectif de comprendre et quantifier le rôle de lacompétition sur l’assemblage des plantes adventices des parcelles de grandes cultures de la Zone Atelier Plaine &Val de Sèvre, en tenant compte des effets des pratiques agricoles et des caractéristiques paysagères. Je montre quela compétition est un mécanisme majeur de la diversité et de l’abondance des assemblages dans les parcelles, etqu’elle surpasse l’effet des pratiques. Si ces dernières ont souvent des effets négatifs sur la diversité florale, ellesn’ont pas toujours d’effet positif sur la production agricole. Ces effets sont très dépendants du contexte, tel que lacomposition du paysage, le type de culture, et la localisation de l’assemblage dans la parcelle. Enfin, certainséléments du paysage, riches en espèces, peuvent être préservés dans un but de gérer durablement lesagroécosystèmes et conserver la biodiversité. En conclusion, la réduction des intrants chimiques semble possibleet ces travaux ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives pour la transition agroécologique, et une agriculture plus durable.
... Chickpea is one of the most interesting legumes in the world, ranking third after beans and peas [3,4], There are several reasons for the importance of growing legumes. From an agronomic point of view, they ensure the enrichment of soils in nitrogen and therefore represent an excellent cultural precedent for cereals [4]. ...
... Chickpea is one of the most interesting legumes in the world, ranking third after beans and peas [3,4], There are several reasons for the importance of growing legumes. From an agronomic point of view, they ensure the enrichment of soils in nitrogen and therefore represent an excellent cultural precedent for cereals [4]. Legumes are also high in protein, which helps to remedy or compensate for deficiencies in animal protein [5,6]. ...
The effect of a composite endomycorrhizal inoculum is tested on the occurrence of Fusarium wilt,
caused by Fusarium solani, in chickpea plants. Eight weeks after inoculation, the aerial part’s length
(24 cm), aerial part’s fresh weight (4.5 g), fresh root weight (5.54 g), leaves’ number (22) and the
number of pods (4) are higher than those found in plants inoculated with F. solani (respectively
2.78 cm, 0.24 g, 0.80 g, 5 and 0 pods). A significant improvement in these parameters is noted in the
mycorrhizal plants inoculated with F. solani (respectively 19.6 cm, 2.30 g, 2.88 g, 14 and 2).
Similary, the mycorrhization influenced the ability of F. solani to alter the foliage of chickpea
plants, the leaf alteration index calculated is about 0.105 and that of plants only inoculated by F.
solani is 0.685. Mycorrhization also reduced the infection of chickpea plants by F. solani, the
isolation percentages of this pathogen from the roots and stems of mycorrhizal and inoculated
plants are respectively 41.66 and 33.33% that they are 100% in plants inoculated with F. solani. The
endomycorrhizal composite inoculum showed high activity in the soil of the rhizosphere of the
plants, 8 endomycorrhizal species belonging to the genera Glomus and Acaulospora sporulated at
the level of the mycorrhizal plants and 6 species belonging to the genera Glomus and Entrophospora
sporulated in the rhizosphere soil of mycorrhizal plants and inoculated by F. solani.
Keywords: Chickpea; composite endomycorrizal inoculums; Fusarium solani; mycorrhization;
agronomic parametres.
... Legumes, which include dried beans, peas, lentils, beans or chickpeas, are important sources of plant proteins, rich in vitamins, fibers, minerals, and amino acids while they are low in saturated fat. They are known for their benefits regarding health and the environment (Schneider & Huyghe, 2015). Therefore, some authors argue that a healthy and sustainable universal diet should incorporate approximately 18 kg of legumes per year per inhabitant (Willett et al., 2019). ...
... In Europe, increasing the area of legume crops has been identified as a key measure to transition toward more sustainable food systems (Schneider and Huyghe, 2015). Thanks to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen (N), legumes contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from synthetic fertilizer production and application (Peoples et al., 2019). ...
In Europe, increasing the area of legume crops has been identified as a key measure to achieve the objectives set by the European Green Deal and transition toward more sustainable food systems. Although the role of grain legumes in climate change mitigation has been closely examined, little research has focused on how climate change will challenge the development of these crops. This article systematically reviews recent simulation studies to assess the impact of climate change on grain legume performances in Europe and the effect of adaptation strategies. Forty papers using process-based, ecological niche, or statistical models were selected to simulate the response of eight grain legume species to future climate (2020–2100) in Europe. The lack of data on adaptation strategies in Europe was compensated for by enlarging the study area to climatically similar regions.
The review highlights a notable imbalance between research about soybean versus other grain legumes, with soybean representing approximately 80% of selected studies. Studies focused on soybean found good agreement, with yield or suitability gains found in northern Europe and a higher probability of yield losses in southern and south-eastern Europe. While a similar spatial pattern may be expected for other grain legumes, the scarcity of data makes this result more uncertain. The review also shows that several adaptation strategies have the potential to mitigate the negative impact of climate change on grain legume performances or enhance its positive
impact. The most promising strategies tested include irrigation, change in sowing date, and cultivar choice. In addition, we identify several knowledge gaps that, if addressed, would support legume development in Europe. In particular, key species such as field pea, faba bean, lentil, and chickpea remain blind spots, despite their prominent role in European environmental, agricultural, and nutritional policies. Other knowledge gaps include a lack of accounting for crop response to elevated CO2, ozone, and future biotic pressure, and a limited range of adaptation strategies tested and indicators assessed. Implementing multi-criteria analyses that involve stakeholders would help identify relevant inputs and outputs for future simulations.
... Legumes, which include dried beans, peas, lentils, beans or chickpeas, are important sources of plant proteins, rich in vitamins, fibers, minerals, and amino acids while they are low in saturated fat. They are known for their benefits regarding health and the environment (Schneider & Huyghe, 2015). Therefore, some authors argue that a healthy and sustainable universal diet should incorporate approximately 18 kg of legumes per year per inhabitant (Willett et al., 2019). ...
Malgré leurs avantages pour la santé et l'environnement, la part des légumineuses dans l'alimentation de nombreux pays développés reste faible. Pour aider les consommateurs à rééquilibrer les protéines animales et végétales dans leur alimentation, les professionnels de la restauration ont un rôle important à jouer. L'objectif du projet est d'explorer les croyances de futurs acteurs de la restauration à l'égard des légumineuses en tenant compte de leur attachement à la viande. Pour ce faire, une enquête quantitative a été menée auprès de 102 étudiants inscrits dans une école supérieure en Arts Culinaires. Globalement, les étudiants ont une vision positive des légumineuses en termes d'environnement, de nutrition, d’approvisionnement ou d'attentes des consommateurs. Deux groupes ont été identifiés en fonction de leur niveau d'attachement à la viande. Les croyances positives à l'égard des légumineuses sont plus fortement ancrées chez les étudiants ayant un faible attachement à la viande que chez les étudiants ayant un attachement fort à la viande. Ces résultats éclairent les profils des futurs acteurs de la restauration et leurs représentations des légumineuses en lien avec leur rapport psychologique à la viande.
... Forty families (Caricaceae, Loranthaceae, Urticaceae…) were cited once (0.28 %). The Fabaceae represent one of the largest angiosperm families, the third in terms of the number of species, after the Asteraceae and the Orchideae [155]. In 2018, Geredew and Bizuayehu, through a review on plants used in liver problems in Ethiopia, found out that the most represented plant families were Euphorbiaceae, Asteraceae and Fabaceae [156]. ...
In West Africa, there is an extensive demand of plants traditionally used against liver diseases. This review gathered information on the plants used for the traditional management of liver diseases in West Africa. A literature review was used to gather information on medicinal plants such as the scientific names, the parts used, the forms prepared and the main liver diseases treated. Citation frequency and convergence score were calculated for each species. The findings presented 24 articles published in West Africa with a total of 401 species distributed in 283 genera belonging to 103 families. The Fabaceae family was the most represented with 73 species. The most cited species were Carica papaya L. (Caricaceae), Citrus aurantifolia (Christm.) Swing. (Rutaceae), Cochlospermum tinctorium Perr. ex A. Rich (Cochlosmarmaceae), Entada africana Guill. And Perr. (Fabaceae), Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) R.Br. ex G.Don (Fabaceae) and Phyllanthus amarus Schumach. & Thonn. (Euphorbiaceae). These plant species presented the highest citation frequencies and convergence scores. The leaves were mostly used in the form of decoction. The main diseases recorded were related to jaundice. Safety, quality and efficacy data on some of these plants justify their traditional uses and will contribute to the development of new phytomedicines against liver diseases.
... Shili-Touzi (2009) showed that the lucerne living mulch produced 2 Mg ha −1 aboveground biomass between the winter wheat harvest and the sowing of the next winter wheat. The N concentration and the proportion of N from fixation were not measured, but as 1 Mg lucerne aboveground dry matter production corresponds to 25-45 kg N fixation (Jeuffroy et al. 2015), the N fixation associated with the 2 Mg ha −1 above ground biomass production between the harvest and the sowing of the next crop can be estimated as 50-90 kg N fixation ha −1 . ...
Both from the environmental and economical perspective, reducing the use of mineral nitrogen and herbicides is one of the future challenges in cereal production. Growing winter cereals on perennial legume living mulch such as white clover ( Trifolium repens L.) or lucerne ( Medicago sativa L.) is one of several options to reduce the need for mineral nitrogen fertilizer and herbicides in winter cereal production. Given the importance of winter cereals in the world, adopting this technique could greatly improve the sustainability of crop production. Through competition with the crop however, the living mulch can negatively affect cereal yield. Here, we (i) review how living mulch can be introduced in the system, (ii) synthetize potential advantages and disadvantages of that system, and (iii) explore different strategies to control the competition between the crop and living mulch. The major findings are that (i) competition between cereals and mulch can lead to significant yield reductions if not controlled properly and (ii) perennial legume varieties used as living mulch so far are varieties bred for forage production. We hypothesize that a dedicated breeding program might lead to living mulch varieties with a smaller impact on cereal yield compared to forage varieties, allowing to grow cereals with reduced nitrogen and herbicide inputs. We propose the main characteristics of an ideotype for such a perennial legume variety.
... Ces flux commerciaux ont permis de générer des revenus considérables (FAO, 2016). Par ailleurs, l'exploitation du potentiel de la fixation biologique de l'azote par les légumineuses peut réduire considérablement l'utilisation d'engrais azotés dans les systèmes de production agricole et les émissions des gaz à effet de serre surtout à travers le piégeage du carbone et la réduction du protoxyde d'azote (N2O) en azote atmosphérique (Schneider et al., 2015 ;Soumaré et al., 2021). Grace à la fixation biologique de l'azote, l'intégration des légumineuses dans les systèmes d'association et de rotation de cultures permet également un transfert d'azote (rhizodéposition, engrais vert). ...
Les symbioses fixatrices d’azote sont des interactions à bénéfice réciproque entre certaines espèces végétales (légumineuses et plantes actinorhiziennes principalement) et des microorganismes du sol ( r hizobium ou Frankia ). Ces symbioses contribuent de façon considérable à la nutrition azotée de ces plantes e t donc à leur développement particulièrement sur l es sols pauvres en azote . L’établissement de ces symbioses démarre par un dialogue moléculaire , puis par la formation de structures appelées nodules ou nodosités , siège des échanges entre les deux partenaires (plante et bactérie) La formation et le développement de nodules requièrent la médiation de gènes spécifiques parmi les quels figurent les régulateurs transcriptionnels ( facteurs de transcription et microARN) microARN). Des facteurs de transcription dont CYCLOPS, NSP1 et NSP2 communs entre les symbioses r hizobium légumineuse et Frankia plante actinorhizienne ont été caractérisés à d ifférents stades du développement du nodule Ils interagissent avec les protéines DE LLA pour induire l’expression du gène NIN , n écessaire à l’initiation de l’infection . Ces facteurs de transcription sont régulés par divers microARN. Cette revue résume l es types de symbioses fixatrices d’azote et les récentes avancées sur l es régulateurs transcriptionnels impliqué s dans l es étapes de pré infection, d’infection et d’organogenèse du nodule . Pour ce faire, nous avons collecté et analysé des données pertinentes de la littérature sur des études moléculaires et cellulaires des symbioses fixatrices d’azote.
... The consumption of dried common beans varies greatly according to the cultural and dietary habits of different countries. Canned common beans are the most consumed, but they can also be cooked in the form of puree or prepared as cassoulet (Schneider & Huyghe, 2015). ...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of soaking and thermal treatment on proteins, anthocyanins, α-galactosides (stachyose, raffinose), tannins and inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), under different conditions, of three Phaseolus vulgaris L. varieties from Madagascar; and evaluate correlation with surface/volume ratio. Overall, dry matter, antinutrients and anthocyanins were impacted by the process, however proteins were not. Depending on varieties and operating conditions, soaking or thermal treatment led to up to 59% losses for dry matter, 73% for tannins, 99% for IP6, 92% for total α-galactosides and 100% for anthocyanins. In certain cases, the process increased dry basis concentration of α-galactosides probably through hydrolysis phenomena from precursors. A positive correlation between the surface/volume ratio of common beans and decrease of tannins and α-galactosides was highlighted. A global antinutritional indicator was used along with the dry matter to evaluate the best conditions to subside all antinutrients and limit the loss of nutrients, combining soaking and thermal treatment. These conditions were soaking (30 C) for 1 h followed by heat treatment at 65 C with 1/5 seed-to-water ratio during 2 h. Appropriate soaking/thermal treatment of common dry bean is crucial to reduce antinutrients and limit nutrient loss. Novelty Impact Statement Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) contains antinutrients and oligosaccharides which causes digestive discomfort. Suitable soaking and thermal treatments reduce these compounds and limit the loss of nutrients. As a final product, a common bean partially free of negative compounds could help in processing common beans and be employed as an ingredient in derived product. K E Y W O R D S geometrical properties, nutritional quality, Soaking, thermal treatment
... The effect of crop types could also play a role as cereal crops were more likely to be treated. Cereal crops are generally not dependent on pollinating insects compared with fruit, vegetable, or legume crops (Schneider & Huyghe, 2015). More surprisingly, the richness of Orthoptera on the sites tended to be higher when herbicides were used around them. ...
At the landscape level, intensification of agriculture, fragmentation, and destruction of natural habitats are major causes of biodiversity loss that can be mitigated at small spatial scales. However, the complex relationships between human activities, landscapes, and biodiversity are poorly known. Yet, this knowledge could help private stakeholders managing seminatural areas to play a positive role in biodiversity conservation.
We investigated how water‐abstraction sites could sustain species diversity in vascular‐plant communities and two taxonomic groups of insect communities in a fragmented agricultural landscape.
Landscape‐scale variables (connectivity indices and surrounding levels of herbicide use), as well as site‐specific variables (soil type for vascular plants, floral availability for Rhopalocera, and low herbaceous cover for Orthoptera), were correlated to structural and functional metrics of species community diversity for these taxonomic groups, measured on 35 industrial sites in the Ile‐de‐France region in 2018–2019.
Rhopalocera and Orthoptera consisted essentially of species with a high degree of dispersal and low specialization, able to reach the habitat patches of the fragmented landscape of the study area. Sandy soil harbored more diverse vascular‐plant communities. Plant diversity was correlated to a greater abundance of Rhopalocera and a lower richness of Orthoptera.
Increasing landscape connectivity was related to higher abundance of plants and Rhopalocera, and a higher evenness index for Orthoptera communities. Higher levels of herbicide use were related to a decrease in the biodiversity of plants and Rhopalocera abundance. High levels of herbicide favored high‐dispersal generalist plants, while high levels of connectivity favored low‐dispersal plants. Specialist Orthoptera species were associated with low herbaceous cover and connectivity.
Water‐abstraction sites are valuable seminatural habitats for biodiversity. Changing intensive agricultural practices in surrounding areas would better contribute to conserving and restoring biodiversity on these sites.
... According to Wilson et al. (1999) 'Leaf dry matter content is a compromise between rapid assimilation and growth leading to an extreme and effective conservation of resources in the well-protected tissues'. It is probable that LA plays a fundamental role in competition for light (Schneider and Huyghe 2015). It is linked to strategies for the acquisition and use of resources by the plant. ...
The mountain rangeland chain of Matmata (southern Tunisia) is characterised by an arid Mediterranean climate with severe droughts and high temperatures, combined with substantial human disturbance. In order to withstand these harsh conditions, plants have developed adaptive strategies and functional traits to survive. This study aims to evaluate the impact of three grazing regimes (grazing exclusion, seasonal and continuous grazing) on Stipa tenacissima L. functional traits, a dominant native and multi-use plant species, and its community. The findings suggest that the diversity of plant communities and traits of S. tenacissima are strongly affected by the management regime. Diversity is higher under seasonal grazing. Traits, such as leaf water content, specific leaf area and bio-volume are higher under seasonal grazing, compared with continuous grazing and/or sites fenced off to prevent grazing. Hence, seasonal grazing is recommended to maintain diversity of the plant community and to enhance the adaptation strategies of the local species under montane dryland conditions.
... Pour les cultures de base (céréales, oléo-protéagineux), l'enjeu est de réintroduire de la biodiversité en termes de diversité de cultures par des cultures associées et intercultures (Wezel et al., 2014) et des infrastructures écologiques (haies, bandes enherbées...) pour soutenir les pollinisateurs et les ennemis naturels tels que les prédateurs et les parasitoïdes, même si les pratiques agricoles restent intensives sur les terres cultivées (Redhead et al., 2020). Les légumineuses en cultures pures, associées ou en intercultures, ont un rôle essentiel à jouer (Schneider et Huyghe, 2015). De plus en plus de recherches se référant à la santé du sol invitent à considérer ces différentes formes de biodiversité et la matière organique du sol afin de modifier la rhizosphère (les racines des plantes et le microbiome associé) ainsi que le microbiote du sol. ...
Depuis le milieu du XX e siècle, les impacts des activités humaines sur les écosystèmes sont croissants. À l’érosion de la biodiversité et au dérèglement climatique, ainsi qu’au développement de maladies chroniques que constituent l’obésité et le diabète, s’ajoute désormais la pandémie du coronavirus. Il s’agit d’un ensemble de crises environnementales ou sanitaires qui résultent pour partie de facteurs communs et dont les impacts peuvent se conjuguer et s’amplifier. Dans ce contexte inédit, nos modes de production, transformation, distribution et consommation des aliments sont particulièrement interrogés. Ils sont à l’origine d’une part importante des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, participent à la destruction de certains habitats naturels réservoirs d’agents pathogènes et contribuent à l’émergence de maladies chroniques chez l’homme. De ce fait, la nécessité d’une transition de notre système alimentaire est une idée qui fait consensus, même si le choix des changements à opérer concrètement pose de nombreuses questions. À travers une approche systémique de « santé globale », rendant compte de l’interdépendance de l’état de santé de l’Homme, des animaux et des écosystèmes dans lesquels ils évoluent, nous montrons qu’il faut prioriser aussi bien les enjeux environnementaux que de santé pour mener à bien ces arbitrages. Nous montrons qu’il est possible de faire des choix doublement vertueux pour l’environnement et la santé en transformant les modes de production, de transformation, de distribution et de consommation des aliments : réorienter l’élevage, abaisser le degré de transformation des aliments, diversifier les modes de distribution et « végétaliser » notre assiette. Ces changements participent à la territorialisation du système alimentaire.
... Pour les cultures de base (céréales, oléo-protéagineux), l'enjeu est de réintroduire de la biodiversité en termes de diversité de cultures par des cultures associées et intercultures (Wezel et al., 2014) et des infrastructures écologiques (haies, bandes enherbées...) pour soutenir les pollinisateurs et les ennemis naturels tels que les prédateurs et les parasitoïdes, même si les pratiques agricoles restent intensives sur les terres cultivées (Redhead et al., 2020). Les légumineuses en cultures pures, associées ou en intercultures, ont un rôle essentiel à jouer (Schneider et Huyghe, 2015). De plus en plus de recherches se référant à la santé du sol invitent à considérer ces différentes formes de biodiversité et la matière organique du sol afin de modifier la rhizosphère (les racines des plantes et le microbiome associé) ainsi que le microbiote du sol. ...
Depuis le milieu du XXe siècle, les impacts des activités humaines sur les écosystèmes sont croissants. À l’érosion de la biodiversité et au dérèglement climatique, ainsi qu’au développement de maladies chroniques que constituent l’obésité et le diabète, s’ajoute désormais la pandémie du coronavirus. Il s’agit d’un ensemble de crises environnementales ou sanitaires qui résultent pour partie de facteurs communs et dont les impacts peuvent se conjuguer et s’amplifier. Dans ce contexte inédit, nos modes de production, transformation, distribution et consommation des aliments sont particulièrement interrogés. Ils sont à l’origine d’une part importante des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, participent à la destruction de certains habitats naturels réservoirs d’agents pathogènes et contribuent à l’émergence de maladies chroniques chez l’homme. De ce fait, la nécessité d’une transition de notre système alimentaire est une idée qui fait consensus, même si le choix des changements à opérer concrètement pose de nombreuses questions. À travers une approche systémique de « santé globale », rendant compte de l’interdépendance de l’état de santé de l’Homme, des animaux et des écosystèmes dans lesquels ils évoluent, nous montrons qu’il faut prioriser aussi bien les enjeux environnementaux que de santé pour mener à bien ces arbitrages. Nous montrons qu’il est possible de faire des choix doublement vertueux pour l’environnement et la santé en transformant les modes de production, de transformation, de distribution et de consommation des aliments : réorienter l’élevage, abaisser le degré de transformation des aliments, diversifier les modes de distribution et « végétaliser » notre assiette. Ces changements participent à la territorialisation du système alimentaire.
... En stockant environ 1000 kg de carbone par hectare et par an, on estime que les prairies des systèmes herbagers de bovins laitiers assurent une compensation de 5 à 30 % des émissions de gaz à effet de serre issues de l'exploitation . Selon le type d'implantation des prairies et la place des légumineuses 3 au sein de la flore du couvert, il est aussi possible de réduire la fertilisation azotée sur les cultures (Schneider and Huyghe, 2015), limitant ainsi la volatilisation de l'ammoniac (O'Brien et al., 2012). ...
Les prairies, en déclin depuis les années 1970, peuvent jouer un rôle majeur dans la transition agroécologique compte tenu de leurs nombreux atouts. Leur valorisation par le pâturage est néanmoins complexe à mettre en œuvre et conditionne directement les bénéfices attendus. Des outils numériques se développent pour optimiser la gestion du pâturage dans le cadre de l’élevage de précision, un concept qui s’appuie sur la révolution numérique. Ces outils restent cependant marginaux et leur plus-value est généralement mal perçue par les éleveurs. Le comportement et la position des vaches laitières devraient servir de support au développement de ces outils car ils sont des indicateurs potentiels de l’état de la ressource sur la parcelle, de la santé et du bien-être des animaux. Des capteurs accéléromètres et GPS embarqués permettent de remonter automatiquement ces informations à condition de mettre en œuvre des techniques d’analyses adaptées. Ce travail de thèse consiste (i) à mettre en place une méthodologie permettant de remonter automatiquement les principaux comportements des vaches laitières au pâturage à partir de capteurs accéléromètres et (ii) d’évaluer le potentiel de cette méthodologie combinée à des données de position pour répondre aux applications envisagées. Le cadre méthodologique développé s’appuie sur des techniques de traitement du signal non explorées dans la communauté concernée, associées à une combinaison d’algorithmes qui met en jeu la complémentarité entre des méthodes de machine learning et des modèles probabilistes. Il garantit ainsi une prédiction fiable pour un large spectre de comportements des vaches laitières au pâturage. La preuve de concept réalisée témoigne également du potentiel de la méthodologie, combinée à des données de position des animaux, pour détecter des troubles de confort en lien avec les conditions de pâturage. Cette approche pourrait donc servir de support au développement d’outils d’aide à la décision pour l’optimisation de la gestion du pâturage, constituant ainsi un levier potentiel dans la transition agroécologique.
... Advances in scientific knowledge on these species have also revealed other nutritional benefits. In a recent survey, Champ et al. (2015) reported that pulse consumption had preventive effects in some non-communicable diseases (type 2 diabetes, mellitus, dyslipidemia such as hypercholesterolemia, colon cancer, etc.). However, for European authorities to approve specific nutritional claims, additional research for "evidence- based" statements are required, while in non-European countries (like Canada) such claims have already been accepted. ...
Crop diversification can improve the sustainability of Western agriculture. In particular, pulses are crops that can help both agriculture and the food industry become more ecological, as they reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help reduce animal-based consumption. Today, however, the development of these crops in Europe has been hindered due to lock-in, since major crops have been co-developed to a greater extent in farming and food systems. After briefly reviewing the major mechanisms that lead to this lock-in, this article adopts a co-evolution framework to address the interconnected transition of agriculture and food systems. We explore how current societal trends in the agrifood system offer new opportunities for pulses, and how simultaneous changes both in production and consumption can facilitate this dual transition. Drawing on insights from the literature and interviews with stakeholders in France—taken here as examples—we argue that to develop pulses, strong support is required from public institutions to coordinate and guide the multiple actors involved in the same direction.
... Le développement de la consommation des légumineuses pour l'alimentation humaine (pois cassés, haricots secs, lentilles, fèves, pois chiches et lupin en alimentation humaine, ainsi que du soja), permettrait de progresser vers des régimes moins dépendants des protéines animales, avec des avantages nutritionnels (Champ et al., 2015) et des impacts environnementaux réduits (Pimentel and Pimentel, 2003 conception d'associations basée sur les traits fonctionnels que nous proposons peut être utilisée pour faciliter la production de grains de légumineuses riches en protéines pour l'alimentation humaine. ...
Les protéagineux pourraient contribuer à réduire le déficit en protéines de l’Europe mais ils sont peu cultivés. L’association à une céréale permettrait de contourner leur variabilité de rendement et leur faible compétitivité vis-à-vis des adventices. Cette stratégie serait particulièrement pertinente pour le lupin blanc d’hiver, qui présente un fort potentiel de production de protéines mais un fort risque d’enherbement. Ce travail de thèse étudie en dynamique les interactions entre lupin, céréale et adventices afin de mettre en évidence les traits des espèces permettant d’accroitre leur complémentarité et la compétitivité vis-à-vis des adventices tout en sécurisant la productivité. L’étude d’un réseau de parcelles démontre que l’ajout de triticale permet d’augmenter la compétitivité vis-à-vis des adventices par rapport au lupin pur, d’obtenir un rendement supérieur et plus stable et de maintenir la production de protéines. Un essai en microparcelles démontre le rôle majeur de la capture précoce d’azote (N) de la céréale pour accroitre la compétitivité vis-à-vis des adventices. Nous montrons que les rapports de compétition varient au cours du cycle et en fonction des espèces ou variétés ainsi que des conditions climatiques et influencent ainsi l’élaboration du rendement. De forts contrastes entre lupin et céréale pour des traits liés à l’acquisition précoce d’N sont décrits ainsi que leurs conséquences sur la mise en place de la complémentarité. Ce travail met en évidence que le choix d’espèces et de variétés aux traits complémentaires permet d’orienter les interactions entre lupin, céréale et adventices et ouvre des perspectives pour l’optimisation des performances.
... According to a survey of consumption on a representative group in France, pulses suffer from an image as being 'old-fashioned' and have been traditionally called 'the poor person's meat'. 16 In addition, this study also found that changing lifestyles in favor of fast-cooking foods have made legumes less attractive (Champ et al., 2015). Some niche markets have, however, been created for functional ingredients, such as starch and pea proteins or the market for lentils or beans with a quality label (such as Protected Designation of Origin), 17 as well as export markets such as faba beans for Egypt or green peas for India (Magrini et al., 2015). ...
Grain-legume plants fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil and thus do not need nitrogen fertilizers. Therefore, grain-legumes can potentially decrease global warming, as nitrogen fertilization is responsible for half of all agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, grain-legumes have many functional and nutritional properties both as feed and food. Despite the fact that the European Union has granted considerable subsidies to promote grain-legume cultivation, their production continues to fall and there has been no satisfactory explanation as to why. This study provides an answer by showing that a situation of technological lock-in has resulted from the co-evolution of crop systems, based on an agrochemical paradigm, public policies, and market dynamics that promote cereals. This process began with the historical choice by European and French public institutions to relegate grain-legumes to feed in direct competition with imported soybeans. Moreover, interrelated factors, such as breeding selection, public subsidies, and food systems, have favored increasing returns to adoption for cereals to the detriment of grain-legumes. Finally, the evolutionary economics approach used here identified several actions that must be implemented together, such as agricultural cost-accounting methods, nitrogen management, institutional innovations, and market outlets to promote grain-legumes and move towards more sustainable agriculture.
The current agroecological transition of agriculture pushes to a diversification of cropping systems, which requires quantified data describing crop successions. “Crop successions indicators 2015-2021” dataset provides a set of twenty synthesis indicators to characterize crop diversity, crop seasonality, particular components of crop successions and duration of crop rotations. Indicators are computed for a seven-year period from 2015 to 2021. Data source are raw crop sequences open access dataset. Indicators are available for municipalities, departments, regions and the whole mainland France, for arable land. A group of experts in agronomy has been associated to this work, in order to define relevant themes, relevant indicators and relevant indicator definitions. This dataset could be useful to characterize agricultural practices on a given territory, for researchers, local actors as decentralized state services, water agencies, territorial collectivities, chambers of agriculture, or agricultural cooperatives. Proposed indicators could be useful for policy makers to monitor the evolution of cultivation practices, in order to design, implement or evaluate measures targeting cultivation practices.
Given that agriculture uses considerable quantities of water to meet food requirements, the scarcity of rainfall and the drying up of water tables could compromise agricultural production. Faced with the urgency of a world undergoing demographic change and a current agro-climatic trend marked by low rainfall at the vegetative stage, the sustainability of chickpea production requires new varieties with resilience and adaptation to climatic change. The aim of this study is the selection genotypes that are tolerant to early drought stress and able to avoid terminal drought. To this end, a collection of 159 genotypes was evaluated, using an augmented-RCBD (Randomized Complete Block Designs), in two experiments (drought stress by water restriction and stress imposition by Polyethylene glycol (PEG) application) simulating the effect of drought. Our results show significant genetic variability and a fairly significant genotype effect in both trials. We noted an interesting positive correlation between germination percentage in the presence of PEG and pod and seed production under water stress at the vegetative stage, and these same traits showed strong heritability. 16 genotypes had a germination percentage ≥50% in the 20% PEG treatment. In addition, 18 Desi and 4 Kabuli genotypes performed well in both trials, with good germination percentage, pod and seed production, good canopy coverage, better normalized difference vegetation index, and low to medium wilting. It would therefore make sense to exploit these genotypes in hybridization programs for the creation of pure drought-tolerant lines, and also to evaluate them in different arid and semi-arid regions over several years.
Legume crop production has many benefits for agricultural systems. Through the rhizodeposition process, they release a significant amount of C and N into the soil, increasing soil organic C and reducing the use of N fertilizer. Rhizodeposition is known as a dynamic process influenced by many factors.
The aim of this study was to study the contribution of root exudation and root senescence to the rhizodeposition of atmospheric C and N during vegetative and reproductive growth in annual and perennial legumes and to understand how this is linked to the fixation capacities of C and N and root functional traits.
An original approach that combined ¹³CO2 labelling and the ¹⁵N dilution method was developed to measure the rhizodeposition of atmospheric C and N throughout plant growth by two annual grain legumes (pea and faba bean) and two perennial forage legumes (white and crimson clovers).
C rhizodeposition was found to increase proportionally with N rhizodeposition during reproductive development and the differences observed between species were related to the C and N fixation abilities. The use of root traits such as specific root length, root tissue density and root dry matter content suggests a strong contribution of root exudation to C rhizodeposition at vegetative growth and a strong contribution of root senescence to both C and N rhizodeposition during reproductive growth.
Synthesis. Both C and N rhizodeposition appeared to be controlled by traits indicative of resource acquisition and root development.
This study was carried out in the year November 2020. The general objective of this study was to assess the profitability and Technical efficiency of soybean producers in the municipality of Tanguiéta. A survey of a sample of 184 producers was selected at random in Center of Tanguiéta, Taïacou, Cotiakou, N’Dahonta and Tanongou of the municipality. In order to analyze the financial profitability of soybean production, the interviews focused on data in order to estimate the technical efficiency scores of each producer and to establish the operating account of the sampled producers. Thus, the most efficient and the average or weakly efficient producers whose technical efficiency scores are less than or equal to 50%. Gross margin, yield, value added per hectare and profit to production cost ratio were estimated. The results showed that the technical efficiency indices of the producers surveyed varied between 11% and 91.1% with an average of 45.62%. Soybean production is financially profitable depending on the level of technical efficiency although the yields obtained are very low for each of the groups. The profit to cost of production ratio revealed that the group of the most efficient producers has the best ratio (1.18> 0.93), showing that soybean producers are technically inefficient overall. With regard to the indicators, they are far from the production potential expected in Benin.
The European Union has a high demand for plant proteins for food and feed. Its self-sufficiency rate is about 5% for soya crude proteins. The European Union and its Member States have launched initiatives for reducing soya imports that come mainly from South America and promoting domestic production of protein-rich crops. In the future, climate suitability for soybean cultivation is likely to increase in oceanic and continental Europe. The recent AE2050 study (INRAE. 2020. Role of European agriculture in world trade by 2050: Balancing climate change and global food security issues. Summary report of the study. INRAE (France), 12 p; Tibi A, Forslund A, Debaeke P, et al. 2020. Place des agricultures européennes dans le monde à l’horizon 2050 : entre enjeux climatiques et défis de la sécurité alimentaire. Rapport de synthèse de l’étude. INRAE (France), 159 p + Annexes) concluded that, in some parts of Europe (defined here as the European Union-27 plus other Balkan countries, Switzerland, Norway and the United Kingdom), cropland requirements in 2050 may be lower than “2010” cropland areas given possible changes in European food demand (related to glooming demographic growth and under the assumption of healthy diets) and in crop yields (influenced by technological developments and climate change). In this study, we examine to what extent this “cropland surplus” could be used to increase soybean production in Europe and reduce the dependency ratio on protein imports. Only in the case of a Healthy Diets scenario (less meat consumption, inducing less animals fed with cakes), substantial soybean acreages could be envisaged to reduce the European reliance on imports. In addition to the surplus allowed by increasing yields, land surplus was also made available by the reduction of livestock production and its grain feed requirements. The best-case scenario, combining healthy diets and trend-based yield growth, would reduce European imports to only 15% of its total domestic requirements versus 45% for the Trend-based Diets scenario. This can be compared to a dependency rate of 51% in our base year “2010”, and of 53%–54% for the two 2050 scenarios without growing soybean on cropland surplus. If the range of these quite optimistic estimations of surplus land dedicated to soybean was reduced to more plausible levels (limited to 10% of annual field cropland in 2050) and considering current soybean yield levels (“2019” instead of “2010”), the decrease in Europe’s oil cake imports levels would be lower. However, its dependency rate could still be reduced from 54% to 46% in the Trend-based Diets scenario, and from 53% to 38% in the Healthy Diets scenario. One important conclusion is that adopting healthy diets would allow a significant reduction of imports of soybean cakes from abroad with expected environmental benefits in Europe and overseas. On the supply side, challenges for a higher self-sufficiency rate of proteins in Europe resulting from the development of soybean domestic production will come from both available and suitable crop areas, attainable yields and relative profitability.
Cropping system design is being transformed through the twofold evolution of agricultural practices for an agroecological transition, and of equipment diversification for agrotechnical needs. Among the most well-known drivers there are genetic selection, crop diversification, protein and energy autonomy. Protein and energy autonomy but also crop diversification could be achieved by reintroducing pulses into farming systems. The availability of specific equipment might be the simplest prerequisite for developing agroecological farming practices while supporting these goals. However, the links between pulses and agri-equipment are not clarified in the literature. The aim of this study is to understand recent historical and current links between pulses and equipment and to gain insight into the suitability or even to find shortcomings concerning pulses and available agri-equipment. To this end, 21 key informants were identified in the agronomical, sociotechnical, economic, and political sectors in France. We asked them four questions: (i) Can you describe your professional functions? (ii) Do you think that equipment is related to the design of the culture system? (iii) Do you think that pulses require specific equipment? (iv) How do you define agroecology? Respondents’ profiles are equally distributed into profiles directly related to the farmer and profiles not directly related to farmers. All 21 respondents answered questions (ii) and (iv). Only 14 respondents answered question (iii), and most of them are directly related to the farmer. We note that pulses do not require specific agri-equipment in a conventional system. The need for agri-equipment is found in the soil conservation approach where pulses are combined with other crops. Soil conservation approaches appear to achieve agroecological goals through the reintroduction of legumes and the decarbonization of energy associated with reduced mechanical costs and CO₂ emissions. This article presents expert opinions on the impact of equipment in the adaptation of agroecological practices as well as insights into the existing blockages of equipment in relation to soil conservation practices.
Our soil continues to grapple with a number of familiar challenges like soil infertility, unfavorable soil conditions, and declining soil health as well as quality. These issues are caused by the ongoing crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and excessive fertilizer usage alone in intensive cropping. Deterioration of soil health can be alleviated by application of organic fertilizers. With this background, the current experiment was conducted during 2013- 2016 to evaluate the effect of different organic sources viz. farm yard manure (FYM), green manure, press mud compost and grapevine pruning residue on Thompson Seedless and soil organic carbon content. Results indicated that maximum yield of 19.50 t/ha was obtained in T3 (pressmud @15ton/ha). The increase in yield was +10.36% and +4.62% over T1 (only Fertigation schedule) and T2 (FYM), respectively. Maximum petiole potassium concentration (1.63%) was recorded in T3 at fruit bud differentiation stage. The soil organic carbon was highest in T4 (FYM @7.5 ton/ha and Press mud @ 7.5 ton/ha) among all the treatments. The increase was +5.6%, +66.66% and +63.56% over T1 in first, second and third year respectively. The gross returns (Rs. 319945/-), net profit (Rs. 121170/-) as well as cost benefit ratio (0.61) was maximum in case of press mud among all the organic sources. On the basis of obtained results, it can be concluded that use of press mud compost or press mud and FYM may be recommended as an organic fertilizer to improve yield and petiole nutrient content of Thompson Seedless as well as soil organic carbon content.
The higher intensity of labor observed in many agroecological farming systems has been little studied by the scientific community, especially in terms of work organization. Narrative interview research concerning 34 farmers in six French farm machinery cooperatives, on the basis of the farming styles framework, allows us to highlight a specific style of farm work conducive to the agroecological transition. Farmers members of these cooperatives have developed a long-standing reliance on peer-to-peer cooperation, gradually shaping a labor-intensive and collective style of farm work to make their conventional farming systems viable. They have then remobilized with relative ease the structuring basis of their initial organization of work, i.e., labor intensity and peer-to-peer cooperation, to develop agroecological practices.
Small-seeded leguminous plants are a very abundant group of which only some are used in various ways. Particular attention has been paid to the use of small-seeded leguminous for the protection of marginal lands and soils. This chapter describes the importance of this species for consumption, forage, and medical purposes. The biological value of active substances found in small-seeded legumes is not fully understood. A number of species such as lucerne (Medicago sativa L), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis L.), goat’s-rue (Galega officinalis L.), and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) provide the important raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. Small-seeded legumes can also be an important nutritional product and are used to overcome chronic malnutrition in countries with high food deficits. Lucerne leaf protein (Extract Fleur Lucerne) has a high content of not only lysine but also tryptophan and threonine, making lucerne a valuable additional ingredient as a food supplement in animal diets based mainly on cereals protein. Lucerne can be a dietary supplement of choice to tackle malnutrition and the lack of balanced diets for almost two billion people in the world.
This article aims to provide a review of major challenges and research needs for the diffusion of conservation agriculture (CA) and the improvement of crop–soil–water conditions in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. A multidisciplinary study and a participatory approach are at the basis of an international project of research and innovation action, “Research-based participatory approaches for adopting conservation agriculture in the Mediterranean Area-CAMA”. It aims to understand the reasons and the research needs that limit a large CA diffusion in the Mediterranean countries. CAMA aims to provide significant advances to CA through multidisciplinary research at the field and farm scales (with main emphasis on smallholder), encompassing a socio-economic analysis of the reasons that obstacle the CA diffusion, legume crop improvement as a component of improved CA cropping systems, and a network of long-term experiments on CA and soil characteristic modification. Its results will be available to scientific and farming communities.
Environmental degradation and the decrease of ecosystem service provision are currently of major concern, with current agricultural systems being a major driver. To meet our future environmental and sustainability targets a transformation of the agro-food systems and current agricultural value chain are crucial. One approach to redesign farming systems is the concept of biodiversity-based agriculture (BBA) which relies on sustainable diversification of biological components and their natural interactions in farming systems to maximize fertility, productivity, and resilience to external perturbations. Despite minimizing anthropogenic inputs, BBA is not yet able to meet all beneficial environmental objectives. BBA applied in the Mediterranean basin requires urgent innovation in approaches, methodologies, and models for small-holder traditional farming systems to ensure a stable provision of ecosystem services and better resilience to environmental stresses linked to climate change. Legumes are the backbone of the Mediterranean agro-ecosystems from ancient times, but their unique and wide biodiversity was not sufficiently valorized, especially by North-African countries. Here, we present LEGU-MED, a three-year international project funded by PRIMA initiative 2019. An international consortium was established involving five universities, 5 research institutes, and one private company from 8 countries: Italy, Germany, Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Lebanon, and Croatia. The main objective of this project is to put forward an international and well-integrated plan to valorize the legume agrobiodiversity of the Mediterranean in biodiversity-based farming systems and consequently enhance agro-ecosystem functions and services in the Mediterranean basin. The successful completion of LEGU-MED will have the following impacts on Mediterranean legume-based farming systems: (1) improve water use efficiency, (2) reduce the use of anthropogenic inputs through the maintenance of soil fertility, (3) enhance pollination and improve ecological connectivity with flora and fauna, (4) protect close-by wildland ecosystems, (5) enhance other ecosystem services (e.g., pest, disease, and weed suppression), and (6) provide healthier and safer protein-rich food.
Legumes provide multiple ecosystem services in agricultural systems. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the influence of different legumes through C rhizodeposition on the dynamics of C, N and P in soil and on microbial communities’ resource requirements. Legumes pea (Pisum sativum L.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) and non-legume wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were grown in pots. Carbon rhizodeposition was quantified by using 13CO2 labeling, and six soil enzyme activities were measured: β-glucosidase (BG), arylamidase (ARYLN), N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG), phosphatases (PHO) and alkaline and acid phosphatases (AKP and ACP). Enzyme stoichiometry approaches were applied. The results showed that BG, NAG and ACP activities were positively influenced by faba bean and clovers. Enzyme stoichiometry analysis revealed a limitation of microorganisms in C and P resources at the plant reproductive stage. These results were explained by plant functional traits. Plant biomass production, root total length, the ability of plants to rhizodeposit C and the C and N content of plant tissues were the main explicative factors. This study also shows that N and C nutrient supplies positively contribute to nutritional requirements and the growth of microorganisms and P availability in soil.
PurposeRhizodegradation is the breakdown of organic contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using plants and rhizospheric microorganisms. The influence of two phytoremediating plants, Miscanthus × giganteus (M × G) and Trifolium repens L., was studied on a PAH-contaminated technosol composed of soil and sediments. More specifically, microbial density and diversity were studied along with the density of the population of PAH-degrading bacteria.MethodsM × G and white clover were tested in mono- and co-culture on the technosol in a mesocosm over 263 days (life cycle of M × G until its senescence). At the beginning and the end of the phytoremediation experiment, microbial density was measured by real-time PCR, targeting bacteria (16S rDNA), fungi (18S rDNA), and PAH-degrading bacteria (PAH-RHDα GP). Bacterial and fungal diversity were determined by metagenomic analysis.ResultsThe M × G monoculture appeared to increase bacterial diversity compared to non-planted technosol, in contrast to other planting patterns, while fungal diversity appeared to decrease in the presence of any of the plants. Overall, the plants increased the bacterial density in the technosol, while only white clover and the co-culture increased the fungal density, with the latter having a greater impact. Concerning the degrading bacteria, only the co-culture stimulated the PAH-degrading bacterial population. This is remarkable for the PAH rhizodegradation.Conclusion
Even though the co-culture seemed to decrease the microbial diversity in the technosol, this condition was the most interesting with respect to the increase of the bacterial and fungal density as well as the enhancement of the PAH-degrading bacteria in the technosol.
Beans and peas are very important legumes because of their importance in human food and their high protein contents, as well as their role in the supply of atmospheric nitrogen to the soil. However, these crops are subject to various pest outbreaks, reducing their yield. The purpose of this study is to carry out an exhaustive inventory of aphids present on bean (Faba bean and Seville variety) and pea crops (Merveille De Kelvedone and Utrillo variety) in the region of Naciria (Boumerdes), in order to evaluate the diversity and abundance of aphids present in these crops. Sampling of aphid populations has been done using two trapping techniques: Barber pitfall trap and yellow traps. The results obtained express a richness of 48 aphid species, with one Melanaphis sacchari species identified for the first time in Algeria. 28 species are inventoried in the pea crop of Utrillo variety , 27 species on the Merveille de Kelvedone variety, 21 species in the bean crop of Seville variety (Vicia faba major) and 20 species on the faba bean (Vicia faba minor).
The bean Phaseolus vulgaris is widely consumed by the Congolese population, because it is rich in protein and has a good nutritional quality. Beetles of the subfamily Bruchinae are pests of bean seeds in the field and storage in the Republic of Congo (RC). Their attacks cause a reduction in seed weight, leading to a decrease in the nutritional and commercial value of the seeds. The purpose of our study was to identify the post-harvest diversity of bean bruchids in two bean producing regions in the Congo (Niari and Bouenza) using molecular taxonomy (12S rRNA marker). The bean weevil, Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say), and cowpea weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius), were identified. Acanthoscelides obtectus, recognised as the main pest of beans, was found in all ten localities sampled, whereas C. maculatus, recognised as the main pest of pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan) and chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), was found in two of the ten. Better knowledge of the diversity of bruchids present in the RC will make it possible to propose effective control methods with little impact on environmental and human health.
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Agroecology has been a focus of intense debate in France since 2012, when the idea was explicitly adopted as a national policy objective by the Ministry of Agriculture. This article intervenes in this debate by documenting and describing an under-recognized, “silent” agroecology practiced by conventional farmers contending with a variety of threats—economic, technical, and climatic—to their farming systems. Inspired by the sociology of development, the research summarized here shows how these farmers have relied on peer-to-peer cooperation, and specifically on formal equipment-sharing arrangements, to develop a range of practices allowing for the ecological improvement of their farming systems. These farmers make few claims with regard to the environmental benefits of their innovations, however: instead, they emphasize their desire for improved farm autonomy. Out of respect for the social and professional dynamics within which they operate, moreover, these farmers tend to avoid ecological terms and topics in their peer-to-peer conversations. This “silence” is reinforced by the statistical tools used to report on French agriculture, which make little note of such farmers’ activities, effectively excluding these practices from assessments of the ecologization of French agriculture. Finally, given the challenges these farmers face in locating necessary resources elsewhere in the agrifood sector (suppliers, research and development, markets), the ecological benefits of these new practices are not always fully realized. Nevertheless, the scale and significance of this silent agroecology—the conditions for which are also present in other Western countries—suggest an urgent need to reorient public policy frameworks to better support the agroecological transition.
Terminal drought is the main stress limiting pea (Pisum sativum L.) grain yield in Mediterranean environments. This study aimed to investigate genotype × environment (GE) interaction patterns, define a genomic selection (GS) model for yield under severe drought based on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers from genotyping-by-sequencing, and compare GS with phenotypic selection (PS) and marker-assisted selection (MAS). Some 288 lines belonging to three connected RIL populations were evaluated in a managed-stress (MS) environment of Northern Italy, Marchouch (Morocco), and Alger (Algeria). Intra-environment, cross-environment, and cross-population predictive ability were assessed by Ridge Regression best linear unbiased prediction (rrBLUP) and Bayesian Lasso models. GE interaction was particularly large across moderate-stress and severe-stress environments. In proof-of-concept experiments performed in a MS environment, GS models constructed from MS environment and Marchouch data applied to independent material separated top-performing lines from mid- and bottom-performing ones, and produced actual yield gains similar to PS. The latter result would imply somewhat greater GS efficiency when considering same selection costs, in partial agreement with predicted efficiency results. GS, which exploited drought escape and intrinsic drought tolerance, exhibited 18% greater selection efficiency than MAS (albeit with non-significant difference between selections) and moderate to high cross-population predictive ability. GS can be cost-efficient to raise yields under severe drought.
Pulses present many advantages for human health, nutrition, sustainability, and the environment. Despite efforts in recent years by the pulse industry and national authorities to favor pulses, consumption in France remains relatively low, at 1.7 kg/per person in 2016, compared to 1920 when it was around 7.2 kg/per person. To understand social representations of pulses in France, 80 French nonvegetarian consumers and 35 professionals from the pulse industry were asked to say five words spontaneously evoked by the inductor "pulses". They then had to rank these five words in order of importance and rate their valence. The structural approach was used to analyze social representations for each group independently. Our results highlight differences in the structure and content of social representations for pulses. Consumer responses suggested only vague impressions of pulses, but taste evocations were nevertheless rated positively. By contrast, professionals tended to focus specifically on protein content and culinary preparation. These differences could explain some barriers to pulse consumption, and improved communication should be a key target. Efficient communication must consider the concepts most frequently used by consumers when referring to pulses, and those ranked as most important.
Crop diversification is one of the main mechanisms identified for developing a more sustainable agriculture. Legumes are interesting diversifying crops to add to crop rotations because of their many positive impacts on agronomic systems. Nonetheless, production of these crops remains relatively low in Europe, in part because of socio-economic factors. The objective of this study was to analyze how the economic attractiveness of legumes may be influenced by two factors: opportunity costs and transaction costs. The method is divided into three steps. First, we built a database of opportunity costs of legumes from a literature review. Second, we qualitatively characterized transaction costs associated with exchange of legumes between producers and collectors. Third, we qualitatively analyzed if contracts currently offered in western France decreased transaction costs. For comparison, transaction costs of linseed were also studied. Our results indicate that legumes are economically attractive at the rotation scale due to zero or negative opportunity costs, but that their transaction costs are high. The contracts studied do not decrease these transaction costs sufficiently, in particular because uncertainties in price remain high in half of these contracts. Downstream differentiation seems necessary to decrease transaction costs by creating added value along the entire agro-food chain.
Models are promising tools to support the design of cropping systems toward sustainable agriculture. Process-based deterministic models are predominantly used, whereas most of them involve a limited range of crop techniques, and are unsuited to organic agriculture. Moreover, their parameterization and local adaptation require a large amount of experimental data. We thus designed a model simulating the yields of successive crops, taking into account the effects of most crop techniques embedded in a cropping system, and suited for both conventional and organic farming. This model was designed assuming that its parameterization, mostly based on expert-knowledge elicitation, could enlarge the range of environmental conditions and crop techniques considered. The PerSyst model involves three types of parameters based on expert knowledge: (i) reference yields reached in the most common cropping system conditions, (ii) yield change due to crop sequence variation, and (iii) yield change due to variation in crop management. These parameters are stochastic to report yield variability across climatic years. The model was parameterized through an original expert elicitation method—combining individual interviews and collective validation—on three case studies, including one in organic farming. Model accuracy was assessed for two long-term experiments. Parameters such as yield change due to crop sequence and to crop management were close among case studies, highlighting possibilities to compensate for a local lack of knowledge. Moreover, simulated yields in both experiments showed great consistency with observed yields, with average relative root-mean-square error of prediction of 15% for winter wheat and faba bean for example. For the first time, thanks to expert-knowledge parametrization, we built a cropping system model, considering all techniques, which could be easily tailored to a diversity of conditions, both in conventional and organic farming. Lastly, advantages and limits of the PerSyst model to assess innovative cropping systems were discussed.
Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS) may drastically reduce genotyping costs compared with single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array platforms. However, it may require optimization for specific crops to maximize the number of available markers. Exploiting GBS-generated markers may require optimization, too (e.g., to cope with missing data). This study aimed (i) to compare elements of GBS protocols on legume species that differ for genome size, ploidy, and breeding system, and (ii) to show successful applications and challenges of GBS data on legume species. Preliminary work on alfalfa and Medicago truncatula suggested the greater interest of ApeKI over PstI:MspI DNA digestion. We compared KAPA and NEB Taq polymerases in combination with primer extensions that were progressively more selective on restriction sites, and found greater number of polymorphic SNP loci in pea, white lupin and diploid alfalfa when adopting KAPA with a non-selective primer. This protocol displayed a slight advantage also for tetraploid alfalfa (where SNP calling requires higher read depth). KAPA offered the further advantage of more uniform amplification than NEB over fragment sizes and GC contents. The number of GBS-generated polymorphic markers exceeded 6,500 in two tetraploid alfalfa reference populations and a world collection of lupin genotypes, and 2,000 in different sets of pea or lupin recombinant inbred lines. The predictive ability of GBS-based genomic selection was influenced by the genotype missing data threshold and imputation, as well as by the genomic selection model, with the best model depending on traits and data sets. We devised a simple method for comparing phenotypic vs. genomic selection in terms of predicted yield gain per year for same evaluation costs, whose application to preliminary data for alfalfa and pea in a hypothetical selection scenario for each crop indicated a distinct advantage of genomic selection.
Terminal drought is the main stress that limits pea (Pisum sativum L.) grain yield in Mediterranean-climate regions. This study provides an unprecedented assessment of the predictive ability of genomic selection (GS) for grain yield under severe terminal drought using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) data. Additional aims were to assess the GS predictive ability for different GBS data quality filters and GS models, comparing intrapopulation with interpopulation GS predictive ability and to perform genome-wide association (GWAS) studies. The yield and onset of flowering of 315 lines from three recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations issued by connected crosses between three elite cultivars were assessed under a field rainout shelter. We defined an adjusted yield, which is associated with intrinsic drought tolerance, as the yield deviation from the value expected as a function of onset of flowering (which correlated negatively with grain yield). Total polymorphic markers ranged from approximately 100 (minimum of eight reads per locus, maximum 10% genotype missing data) to over 7500 markers (minimum of four reads, maximum 50% missing rate). Best predictions were provided by Bayesian Lasso (BL) or ridge regression best linear unbiased prediction (rrBLUP), rather than support vector regression (SVR) models, with at least 400–500 markers. Intrapopulation GS predictive ability exceeded 0.5 for yield and onset of flowering in all populations and approached 0.4 for the adjusted yield of a population with high trait variation. Genomic selection was preferable to phenotypic selection in terms of predicted yield gains. Interpopulation GS predictive ability varied largely depending on the pair of populations. GWAS revealed extensive colocalization of markers associated with high yield and early flowering and suggested that they are concentrated in a few genomic regions. © Crop Science Society of America 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA.
L’agriculture, l’activité humaine probablement la plus dépendante du climat, est à la fois victime et responsable du changement climatique mais elle peut aussi être une solution à la crise du changement climatique. C’est dans les pays en développement, particulièrement vulnérables, que les effets du changement climatique seront les plus violents. L’agriculture émet des gaz à effet de serre, mais il est possible de diminuer ces émissions par des pratiques agro écologiques favorisant l’augmentation de la matière organique du sol. Il est également possible, grâce à ces pratiques, d’augmenter la capture de carbone atmosphérique en fixant du carbone dans le sol et ainsi contribuer à l’atténuation du changement climatique, tout en améliorant les propriétés du sol, ce qui permet simultanément d’améliorer l’adaptation de l’agriculture au changement climatique. Une augmentation de la teneur en carbone de tous les sols du monde de 4 ‰ par an permettrait de compenser toutes les émissions de gaz à effet de serre d’origine anthropique. L’initiative internationale d’origine française « 4 ‰, Les Sols pour la Sécurité Alimentaire et le Climat » se donne pour objectif de mettre en œuvre des projets permettant de montrer qu’il est possible d’augmenter la teneur en carbone du sol dans ces proportions et de répondre aux questions de recherche que cela pose, notamment en matière de mesure du taux de carbone dans le sol, de pratiques agronomiques pertinentes, du contexte socio-économique favorable à cette démarche et enfin du suivi dans le temps des changements induits.
Depuis plusieurs années, la France se fixe des objectifs
ambitieux pour réduire les impacts environnementaux de ses
productions végétales et notamment réduire leurs parts dans les
émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) responsables de la part
anthropique du changement climatique. Par ailleurs, ces
dernières années, les accidents climatiques ont touché toutes
les espèces des productions végétales annuelles métropolitaines
entraînant la réduction des rendements et des surfaces
récoltées. Ainsi, il devient urgent de changer la conception des
systèmes agricoles et agroalimentaires en conciliant adaptation
et atténuation du changement climatique.
L’étape de la production des matières premières agricoles
étant prépondérante, répondre à ces deux enjeux d’envergure
doit faire appel à une démarche basée sur l’agronomie. Si l’on
veut à la fois réduire l’usage des intrants dont la part de
responsabilité est conséquente pour les GES des productions
végétales, et favoriser la robustesse du potentiel de production
agricole face aux aléas, alors il est judicieux de mobiliser des
processus inhérents aux écosystèmes pour qu’ils contribuent
davantage, en plus des intrants, à la nutrition des cultures et à
une meilleure régulation des pressions biotiques.
Pour mobiliser ces services écosystémiques, Terres Inovia
identifie deux volets à favoriser : une plus grande fertilité des
sols et une plus grande diversité fonctionnelle au sein des
familles botaniques des cultures et des agencements sur
l’exploitation agricole.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.