Analysis Of Integrated Benefits Of "Chicken-corn-wheat" Organic Farming Pattern

"Winter wheat-summer corn"rotation system is very common in countryside of northern China. How to make full use of field space and natural resource is an important subject of sustainable agriculture under the situation induced by decreasing per capita cultivated land. Furthermore, excessive utilization of chemical fertilizer and pesticide caused severe environmental pollution.Our research aimed to provide theoretical basis to evaluate"chicken-corn-wheat"organic pattern systematically through comparing with"corn-wheat"organic pattern and"corn-wheat"conventional pattern, and then establish a stable basis for extending this new pattern.The main objectives of this paper are: (1) to design a new farming pattern-"chicken-corn-wheat"organic pattern which adapts to the farmland in northern China(winter wheat-summer corn rotation system) using niche and food chain theories; (2) to compare the differences of the soil and plant characters between the new pattern and"corn-wheat"organic pattern,and to analyse the economical and ecological advantages of the new pattern; (3) to compare the differences of soil characters of new pattern and"corn-wheat"conventional pattern and to analyse the economical benefits and ecological advantages using emergy method; (4) to study the effects of insects arrested by physical way and to analyse the effects of insects protein on the growth characters and meat quality of the chicken.The results based on field investigation and biochemical examination are as follows:1."Chicken-corn-wheat"organic pattern is a complex system with multi-components, multi-layers, multi-functions, and multi-benefits. This new pattern took fully advantages of the field space, increased the utilization efficiency of farmland.2. There were improvement in the soil physical characters and increments in the soil nutrients. Compared to"corn-wheat"organic pattern, soil bulk density of new pattern was decreased by 6.3% and 1.8% repectively in 0~10cm and 10~20cm layer; soil porosity was increased by 9.1% and 3.4%, respectively; soil moisture content was increased by 9.7% and 8.5%, respectively. Total nitrogen (N) and available N in new pattern were all increased significantly compared with"corn-wheat"oganic pattern (p<0.05) either in 0~10cm or 10~20cm layer. However, there was no significant difference on total P content. Organic matter in new pattern showed significant increment in the 0~10cm layer, but nonsignificant in the 10~20cm layer.3. Compared with"corn-wheat"conventional pattern, the soil moisture cotents of new pattern were increased by 29.2% and 12.4% in the 0~10cm and 10~20cm layers respectively; the soil bulk density was increased and soil porosity got reduced; organic matter was increased significantly (p<0.05) both in the 0~10cm and 10~20cm layers; total N content was decreased significantly and available N content had little change; total P content had little change in the 0~10cm layer but was increased significantly in the 10~20cm layer.4. Insects were mixed with the chicken feed according to the proportion of 9%, which were arrested by the Pesticidal lamp. After 70 days feeding, the ratio between the weight of feed and chicken is 5.3 : 1 and 10.1 : 1 of insect-feed chicken and pure grain-feed chicken, respectively. Futhermore, the insect-feed chicken had higher growth rate, better meat quality and higher profit than the pure grain-feed chicken. So it can compensate the shortage of the low profit of organic pattern without chicken and increase the positivity of farmer for organic farming. We compared the meat qualities of insect-feed chicken, pure grain-feed chicken and industrial chicken. Among the treatments, the pH of breast meat and leg meat in insect-feed chicken were the highest, those of the industrial chicken were the lowest and the pure grain-feed chicken were between them. The trend in drop loss order of breast meat and leg meat was insect-feed chicken>pure grain-feed chicken>industrial chicken, industrial chicken>insect-feed chicken>pure grain-feed chicken, respectively. The order in cook loss of breast meat and leg meat was that industrial chicken>pure grain-feed chicken>insect-feed chicken; the trend in polish of breast was that pure grain-feed chicken>insect-feed chicken>industrial chicken, and polish of leg meat was the biggest in feed chicken, and there was not significant difference in the insect-feed chicken and industrial chicken.5. Compared with the"corn-wheat"organic pattern, the leaf area index (18.3%) and plant height (12.2%) of corn were increased significantly; the yield and biomass of residue of corn were increased by 45.1% and 21.0%, respectively. The weed in the corn field was cleared by the chicken at the density of one chicken 5m2. One lamp arrested 33.73kg insects and thus decreased the damage of insects on corn.6. The labor needed in the new pattern is 1.08 times higher than that of the"corn-wheat"organic pattern and 1.05 times higher than the"corn-wheat"conventional pattern. The income of the new pattern in half a year was 4.9 times of the"corn-wheat"organic pattern. The output-input ratios of new pattern and"corn-wheat"organic pattern in half a year were 1.5:1 and 2.0:1. The income of the new pattern in the whole year was 3.8 times of the"corn-wheat"conventional pattern. The output-input ratios of new pattern and"corn-wheat"conventional pattern in the whole year were 2.3:1 and 1.8:1. The new pattern can produce more wealth and can also increase job opportunities.7. In the new pattern, organic ferterlizer and labor which were renewable energy, accounted for 29.6% of the whole input. In the"corn-wheat"conventional pattern, labor energy was renewable and it accounted for 1.81% of whole input energy; pesticides, ferterlizer, electronic energy and mechanic energy were not renewable and accounted for 95.84% of the whole energy. The input emergy of new pattern is 22.8% of that of conventional pattern and the output emergy of new pattern is 1.7 times higher than the conventional pattern. The additon of chicken in the new pattern caused the better cycle of nutients, reduced the input of chemical energy, made the system to be organic and saved the fossil energy.