Nitrogen Balances in Traditional Farming

I have used this information to prepare nitrogen balances for a number of preindustrial agroecosystems, ranging from ancient single-cropping with extensive fallowing in the Huang He valley to intensive cultivation of China s best subtropical 

Although the modernization of European farming was a multifaceted affair, Chor-ley concluded that 

Because of its extensive cultivation of legumes (beans, peas, clover), biofixation was the largest nitrogen input (almost 50 kg N/ha), followed by the recycling of manure and animal droppings on pasture (a total of nearly 40 kg N/ha) recycled crop residues added annually about 20 kg N/ha. Such a farm could feed no more than 3-4 people/ha, albeit on diets relatively rich in dairy products and meat. 

Perhaps the highest nitrogen inputs in traditional agriculture were reached during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in parts of South China where year-round cropping is possible, particularly in Sichuan s Red Basin and in the lowlands of the southern provinces, especially in Guangdong s Zhujiang (Pearl River) delta. 

and water buffalo manure and human excrements were the main ingredients, augmented by aquatic plants and pond mud. Production of 1 t of fish required inputs of 7.51 of duck manure or 451 of pig manure, while dike crops received from 35 t/ha (bananas) to 180 t/ha (vegetables) of organic wastes as well as dressings of pond mud. 

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