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Optimizing crop rotations via Parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture

Crop rotation, a sustainable agricultural technique, has been at humanity’s disposal since time immemorial and is practised globally. Switching between cover crops and cash crops helps avoid the adverse effects of intensive farming. Determining the optimum cash-cover rotation schedule for maximizing...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gokhale, Chaitanya S., Sharma, Nikhil
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10189593/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37206968
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221401
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author Gokhale, Chaitanya S.
Sharma, Nikhil
author_facet Gokhale, Chaitanya S.
Sharma, Nikhil
author_sort Gokhale, Chaitanya S.
collection PubMed
description Crop rotation, a sustainable agricultural technique, has been at humanity’s disposal since time immemorial and is practised globally. Switching between cover crops and cash crops helps avoid the adverse effects of intensive farming. Determining the optimum cash-cover rotation schedule for maximizing yield has been tackled on multiple fronts by agricultural scientists, economists, biologists and computer scientists, to name a few. However, considering the uncertainty due to diseases, pests, droughts, floods and impending effects of climate change is essential when designing rotation strategies. Analysing this time-tested technique of crop rotations with a new lens of Parrondo’s paradox allows us to optimally use the rotation technique in synchrony with uncertainty. While previous approaches are reactive to the diversity of crop types and environmental uncertainties, we make use of the said uncertainties to enhance crop rotation schedules. We calculate optimum switching probabilities in a randomized cropping sequence and suggest optimum deterministic sequences and judicious use of fertilizers. Our methods demonstrate strategies to enhance crop yield and the eventual profit margins for farmers. Conforming to translational biology, we extend Parrondo’s paradox, where two losing situations can be combined eventually into a winning scenario, to agriculture.
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spelling pubmed-101895932023-05-18 Optimizing crop rotations via Parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture Gokhale, Chaitanya S. Sharma, Nikhil R Soc Open Sci Ecology, Conservation and Global Change Biology Crop rotation, a sustainable agricultural technique, has been at humanity’s disposal since time immemorial and is practised globally. Switching between cover crops and cash crops helps avoid the adverse effects of intensive farming. Determining the optimum cash-cover rotation schedule for maximizing yield has been tackled on multiple fronts by agricultural scientists, economists, biologists and computer scientists, to name a few. However, considering the uncertainty due to diseases, pests, droughts, floods and impending effects of climate change is essential when designing rotation strategies. Analysing this time-tested technique of crop rotations with a new lens of Parrondo’s paradox allows us to optimally use the rotation technique in synchrony with uncertainty. While previous approaches are reactive to the diversity of crop types and environmental uncertainties, we make use of the said uncertainties to enhance crop rotation schedules. We calculate optimum switching probabilities in a randomized cropping sequence and suggest optimum deterministic sequences and judicious use of fertilizers. Our methods demonstrate strategies to enhance crop yield and the eventual profit margins for farmers. Conforming to translational biology, we extend Parrondo’s paradox, where two losing situations can be combined eventually into a winning scenario, to agriculture. The Royal Society 2023-05-17 /pmc/articles/PMC10189593/ /pubmed/37206968 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221401 Text en © 2023 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Ecology, Conservation and Global Change Biology
Gokhale, Chaitanya S.
Sharma, Nikhil
Optimizing crop rotations via Parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture
title Optimizing crop rotations via Parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture
title_full Optimizing crop rotations via Parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture
title_fullStr Optimizing crop rotations via Parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture
title_full_unstemmed Optimizing crop rotations via Parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture
title_short Optimizing crop rotations via Parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture
title_sort optimizing crop rotations via parrondo’s paradox for sustainable agriculture
topic Ecology, Conservation and Global Change Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10189593/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37206968
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221401
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