Abstract
Soil–water–air (SWA) contamination from soil–plant and animal–plant–soil systems have become a major concern for the sustainability of agroecosystems. Nutrient budgeting is one of the techniques that can simultaneously monitor and prevent SWA contamination, if employed in plot, field, regional or continental scale. This study presents nutrient budgeting/balancing (NB) methods, their implications in SWA contamination prevention as well as factors and agricultural practices that affect NB most. Current global policies and regulations aimed at offsetting nutrient pollution are also discussed. We hypothesized that (i) ecosystems equipped with NB approaches can limit the entry of excess nutrients while (ii) policies and actions linked with NB techniques eventually yield in ecosystems preservation. We demonstrated that “nutrient surpluses” derived from crop-livestock systems responsible for SWA contamination can be simultaneously monitored and prevented by using different NBs. Nutrient surpluses are highly linked with the excessive use of fertilizers and manures along with low nutrient utilization efficiency of plants or in animal farming systems. Atmospheric wet and dry depositions, nutrient loss through leaching, surface runoff or erosion and impact of agricultural management e.g., tillage or crop rotation that can enhance nutrient balance should be carefully estimated to prevent over- and underestimation in NBs. However, sustainable policy designing and implementation to prevent SWA contamination need global coordinated actions and may be sustainable if integrated with different NB approaches.
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•Nutrient budgeting (NB) offers robust insight about nutrient surpluses.•Fertilizers and manures are the dominant causes of nutrient surpluses.•Atmospheric deposition may cause under- or overestimation in NB.•Legumes may enhance nutrient utilization efficiency of crop plants.•Global policies if integrated with NB may offset nutrient pollution.