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Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Zugasti-López, InésAuthor

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March 16, 2026
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Exploring Winter Legume Cover Crop Management Strategies in Irrigated Maize Monoculture Systems

Publicated to: Agronomy-Basel. 16 (6): 630- - 2026-03-16, DOI: 10.3390/agronomy16060630

Authors:

Zugasti-Lopez, Ines; Cavero, Jose; Isla, Ramon
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Affiliations

CSIC, Dept Suelo & Agua, Estn Expt Aula Dei, Zaragoza 50059, Spain - Author
Ctr Invest & Tecnol Agroalimentaria Aragon CITA, Dept Sistemas Agr Forestales & Medio Ambiente, Zaragoza 50059, Spain - Author

Abstract

Management of legume cover crops to reduce their cost by using no-tillage and reducing seed rate could increase their adoption. Despite the growing interest in cover crops, no information exists simultaneously regarding the potential of different species and how the sowing method and seed rate affect nitrogen (N) contribution and the yield of the subsequent maize crop. During a four-year field trial, under irrigated conditions in the Ebro valley (NE Spain), three leguminous cover crop species (pea, common vetch and hairy vetch), two cover crop seeding methods (conventional tillage and no-tillage) and two seeding rates (normal and 25% reduced) were tested and compared with a control treatment without a cover crop. The aboveground cover crop biomass and the N derived from biological fixation (BNF); aboveground biomass and total N in weeds; soil mineral nitrogen; and the effect on maize grain yield and N content were evaluated. Pea and common vetch produced more biomass (+76%) and had a higher N uptake (+50 to 60%) compared to hairy vetch. The sowing of the cover crops after no-tillage combined with a reduced sowing rate reduced biomass production by 14%. The percentage of nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (Ndfa) was above 60% for all species and the differences in total N derived from biological fixation (BNF) among treatments were related to the aboveground biomass. The introduction of cover crops reduced weed growth compared to the control especially in the no-tillage treatment. Cover crops increased maize grain yield by 12% and N uptake by 17% compared to the control treatment without a cover crop.
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Keywords

CornDosis de siembraEfficiencyFijación biológica del nitrógenoFixationGrowthNitrogen fixationNitrogen-fertilizationNo-tillagePeaPlantas de coberturaRotationSiembra directaSowing rateSpainTillageVetchYieldZero hunger

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Agronomy-Basel due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2026, it was in position 20/133, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Agronomy.

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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-11-15:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 3.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 3 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 2.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/10532/8214
Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 2 - Zero hunger, with a probability of 55% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Zugasti López, Inés) .

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Awards linked to the item

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness (AGL2017-84529-C3-12-R and AGL2017-84529-C3-2-R) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2021-1263430B-C32). I. Zugasti received a predoctoral fellowship from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (PRE2020-093635, Gov. Spain).
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