Resistance and Recovery of Crop Productivity From Contrasted Soil Fertility

The balance between crop production and environmental sustainability depends on an adequate supply of soil nutrients, although changes in nutrient supply may initially have little effect on crop production due to the buffering effects of soil nutrients and the overall resilience of the system. In a 15-year fertilizer experiment in the North China Plain, crop yield on high-fertility soils declined little in the first year after N application was stopped, indicating a strong resilience (0.90) caused by the mining of previously accumulated soil N. Restoration of manure N at a reduced rate resulted in an immediate yield increase of 136% and increased the N surplus to 134 kg N ha$^{−1}$. A synthesis of the literature showed that global soils also have a high yield resilience (0.94–1.00). This work suggests that in low-fertility soils, N resupply can contribute to rapidly increase yields under optimum management, thereby aiding efforts to address rising food demand. Conversely, in high fertility soils (high residual N), reduced N applications can maintain high yields with reduced N losses.