Using "Three-dimensional Space Resources" for Fenlong Technology to Improve Grain Econoloy and Expand Human Living Spaces

Benhui WEI

Institute of Cash Crops, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China

Abstract Fenlong Technology has been applied to increase yield by 20%-50%, improve quality by 5%, and retain water by 100% in 40 kinds of crop cultivated land and saline-alkali land in 26 provinces of China. This paper clarified for the first time the scientific theory system of Fenlong Technology using three-dimensional space resources "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory" and the development of the relative "limits" of agricultural growth, which provides a huge power support and natural force for expanding human living spaces. Through inventing and creating a scientific and technological system of farming tools, farming machinery, farming modes, and magic weapons for cultivation, Fenlong Technology can increase grain, promote ecological development, and greatly expand the living spaces of the Chinese nation and achieve sustainable development. Using Fenlong Technology, China has expanded from the current single "cultivated land agriculture" to the "big pattern agriculture" of Fenlong "cultivated land+saline land+degraded grassland+marginal land+desertified land+river water", flexibly used 147 million ha of "three-dimensional space resources" of land, and the newly increased food, meat, and fish can feed 300 million to 400 million people, increased the water storage by 100 billion m3, and reduced the collection of groundwater by 20 million to 60 billion m3.

Key words Three-dimensional space resources, Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory, Relative "limits", Expanding the living spaces, Improving the grain ecology, Fenlong farming

1 Introduction

Fenlong farming and cultivation technology (Fenlong Technology for short)[1-5]creates a brand-new series of farming tools, a variety of farming modes, and proposes a new magic weapon for cultivation, raises the food "manufacturing" and utilization of "three-dimensional space resources" such as soil, water, air, and light, on which humans rely for survival, to a new huge development height, and it shows the development prospects related to human health. Fenlong Technology has expanded the spaces for human survival and development for more than 10 years. It has been applied to cultivated land[1,6]and saline-alkali land[7,10]of 40 kinds of crops in 26 provinces of China, and it has proved that it has increased the yield by 20%-50% and improved the quality by 5% , increased the water retention by 100%, and it can resist or reduce the impact of drought, flood, high and low temperature climate and other disasters. It has formed a new round of "three-in-one" system of increasing the yield, improving the quality, increasing the water retention, and reducing fertilizers and resisting the disasters, covering the overall coordinated activation and utilization of three-dimensional space resources; it has revealed the multi-level major scientific issues of "three-dimensional space resources" and clarified the "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory", and it is the common key core technology of "Fanlong Big Science" that expands the living spaces of human beings and helps modernize the harmonious symbiosis between man and nature.

The success in the research on Fenlong Technology is based on a global perspective and for the coexistence of human survival and nature and the symbiosis of biodiversity, and agricultural growth confronted with "peaking" and pollution and climate warming, as well as "squeezing" of human living spaces. It solves the problems of the shortage of agricultural resources and the serious pollution of soil, water resources, and air. It is the most ideal "self-rescue magic weapon" for human beings to change this survival risk pattern; it is also helpful for the implementation of General Secretary Jin Ping’s proposal of self-sufficient in food supply and the spirit of sustainable development for the Chinese nation.

2 Fenlong Technology provides a huge power support and natural force for increasing the grain yield, improving the ecological development and expanding human living spaces

2.1"Three-dimensionalspaceresources" ("agriculturalnature"),suchassoil,water,airandlight,aretheprimaryresourcesandforcesupportforhumansurvivalanddevelopment"Three-dimensional space resources" such as soil, water, air, and light, namely "agricultural nature", are the primary resources for human survival and natural science research. The entry point and force point of human survival and development for the use of "three-dimensional space resources" are first manifested in farming. From the ancient slash-and-burn farming to modern manpower hoeing, livestock power and tractor plowing and raking, the plow layer ranges from shallow to deep, using loose soil as a carrier to grow crops, promoting the gradual increase in the use of "three-dimensional space resources" such as natural precipitation, air oxygen, and solar energy, and gradually increasing the output of agricultural products per unit area. This is a great history of agricultural evolution and human civilization development. Therefore, "three-dimensional space resources" such as soil, water, air, and light are the primary resources and force support of human survival and reproduction, and it is very important to understand the scientific nature of this point. The current shallow plower layer is the fundamental factor for the weak "primary resource". At present, the main food for human survival (such as grain,etc.) is obtained through the "manufacturing" of "three-dimensional space resources" through "tractor plowing+improved seeds+fertilizers and pesticides+water conservancy irrigation". However, the farmland in China is shallow, with an average of only 16.5 cm. This kind of "manufacturing" function and output is still insufficient, in other words, the "primary resources" are weak, indicating that deepening the plow layer will definitely increase the grain, preserve the water, improve the ecological, and expand the living spaces.

2.2"FenlongAgriculturalNatureTheory"exertsahugeeffectonhumanbeingsandnature

2.2.1Fenlong farming increases the loose soil and the yield compa red with the traditional farming, and the sustainability of soil quality and soil fertility is better.

(i) Both the quantity and quality of Fenlong soil are improving. When the Fenlong farming is 35 cm (the national average of traditional farming is 16.5 cm), the amount of soil loosening increases by 112.12% (Table 1). Besides, the proportion of large, medium and small soil particles is reasonable, the surface of soil aggregates is smooth, the soil bulk density is reduced by more than 10%, and the porosity is increased by more than 5%. For example, compared with the three farming methods of tractor rotary tillage 20 cm, Fenlong 40 cm, and deep turning rotary tillage 40 cm of sugarcane soil, the content of mechanically stable aggregates of 1-0.25 mm particle size treated with Fenlong 40 cm increased by 24.3% and 74.5%, respectively, and the content of water stable aggregates of larger than 3 mm size decreased by 28.9% and 33.3%, respectively[11].

(ii) The retention of Fenlong soil fertility has sustainability. For example, in the seventh year after the paddy field in Min’an Town, Beiliu City, Guangxi, the content of soil nutrients of alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, and organic matter separately increased by 16.29%, 42.40%, 59.77%, and 21.45%[12]; in the fourth year after using Fenlong farming, the rice yield in Yuanjiang City of Hunan Province increased by 12.0%[5], the wheat yield in Wuqiao County, Hebei Province after using Fenlong increased by 38.2%[13]; in the third year after using Fenlong farming, the sugarcane yield in Longan County of Guangxi increased by 21.7%[6], in the fifth year after Fenlong transformation of heavily saline-alkali soil, the cotton yield in Yuli County of Xinjiang increased by 36.4%[8]. If implementing the second Fenlong farming, it is expected that the high fertility level of the soil will be recycled.

(iii) Fenlong farming can increase yield by 10%-30% compared with the tractor farming with zero fertilization. In 2010, in Majiaotang Village, Zouwei Town, Binyang County, Guangxi, we implemented "five thousand years of agriculture" farming modes of slash-and-burn cultivation, manual hoeing and soil preparation, livestock plowing for soil preparation, tractor plowing and rake for soil preparation, and Fenlong deep rotary tillage and soil preparation[14]. Under the uniform condition of zero fertilization, it was found that the maize yield of the latter four modes increased by 3%-10%, while the yield of Fenlong farming increased by 12.3% compared with the tractor farming (Table 1). The yield of Fenlong rice[15], maize[16], and wheat[16]without fertilization increased by 13.4%-38.2% compared with the tractor farming (Table 2), indicating that the more utilization of "three-dimensional space resources" such as natural precipitation, air oxygen, and solar energy based on activating the soil promotes the increase of output of agricultural products.

Table 1 Comparison of soil loosening and yield between Fenlong farming and traditional farming

Table 2 Yield increase of Fenlong with zero fertilization by 13.4%-38.2%

2.2.2"Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory" explores the huge natural forces that can be used by human beings. (i) Fenlong Technology using "three-dimensional space resources" generates 10 huge natural forces: deepening tillage 1-2 times[12,17-20]; increasing water retention by more than 1 time[21-24]; increasing the soil oxygen content by 1 time[5]and raising the soil temperature by 1-2 ℃[18]; increase the soil beneficial microorganisms 1 time[25]; increasing the soil available nutrients by 10%-30%[12,19]; reducing the soil salinity by 20%-40%[7-10](also purifying the harmful substances); improving the net photosynthetic efficiency of crops by 5%-30%[2]; reducing the carbon sequestration and emission by about 10%[24]; increasing the ground air humidity by more than 10%[21]; increasing the crop yield by 20%-50%[2-3,10,20-21]and increasing the economic benefits by more than 20%[15,26].

(ii) Fenlong Technology can improve the productivity of various land resources. It can increase the output of agricultural products by 1.2-1.3 times, it can promote the low-yield fields to become middle-yield fields, middle-yield fields become high-yield fields, high-yield fields become more productive, and saline-alkali fields become good fields.

2.2.3It can increase the crop yield and improve the crop quality. (i) The application of Fenlong Technology in cultivated land increases the yield by 20%-50%. The application of 40 crops in 26 provinces in China has realized the increase of yield by 20%-50% under the condition of without increasing fertilizers and water and production costs (Table 3).

Table 3 Yield increase of some crops after using Fenlong Technology by 20.03%-117.32%

(ii) The application of Fenlong Technology can increase the yield of various types of crops. The biggest increase in yield is underground tubers such as sweet potatoes, cassava, and potatoes, followed by sugar cane, cotton, then maize and wheat, and rice.

(iii) The application of Fenlong Technology can improve the crop quality. It improves the quality of rice and soybean protein by 14.61% and 12%, respectively, and increases the sugar content of sugarcane by 5.75% (Table 4).

Table 4 Quality improvement of some crops after using Fenlong Technology (%)

2.2.4The effect of physical and low-cost transformation of saline-alkali land is of global significance. The results showed that the application of Fenlong Technology for various crops in saline-alkali soils in 10 provinces of China increased the yield by 14.1%-154.22%[7-10](Table 5). The principle of the Fenlong Technology to transform the saline-alkali land: make the soil aggregates smooth, increase the porosity, cut off the capillary, the 0-20 cm plowing layer soil salt sinks to the 20-50 cm area and is not easy to move up, so as to achieve "light salt" and promote the normal germination and growth of crops. The "Fenlong Agricultural Nature theory" for the transformation of saline-alkali land can provide the possibility for the physical and low-cost transformation of saline-alkali land in China and even the world.

Table 5 Transformation of saline-alkali land using Fenlong Technology in some places of China by 14.1%-154.2%

2.2.5Favorable for carbon sequestration, emission reduction and improvement of the ecological environment. (i) Enhancing the vitality of crop roots. Compared with conventional farming[27-28], the root length, root diameter, root volume and number of root tips, root surface, root fresh weight and root dry weight of sugarcane of Fenlong farming increased by 20.9%-42.3% and 12.3%-71.0%, 33.3%-71.0%, and 6.4%-61.6%, 21.8%-64.1%, 26.8%-64.4% and 32.6%-95.3%, respectively, and the same indicators differed significantly between different farming modes; the vitality of sugarcane root system of Fenlong farming was significantly enhanced throughout the growth period, and increased by 1.29, 1.39, and 1.25 times in the seedling, elongation, and maturity stages, respectively.

(ii) Improving the photosynthesis. Taking the elongation period of Fenlong sugarcane as an example[29], its chlorophyll content, malate dehydrogenase (NADP-MDH) activity, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activity, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBPC) activity was increased by 5.4%, 18.6%, 23.5% and 30.9%, respectively, compared with conventional farming sugarcane, the differences were significant. In addition, the net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate of Fenlong sugarcane during the elongation and maturity stages were also significantly higher than those of the control.

(iii) Significant increasing the biomass. Due to the well-developed root system, tall plants and sufficient stamina, the biomass of Fenlong crops can generally increase by 20%-30%, and the biomass can be increased by more than 40%. For example, the increase of Fenlong highland barley straw in Shannan City, Tibet reached 41.1%.

3 Clarifying the three-level scientific theoretical systems for the incremental use of "three-dimensional space resources" based on the "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory"

3.1Traditionalfarmingutilizationof"three-dimensionalspaceresources"isthefirstlevelThe most precious and inexhaustible natural resources on the earth are "three-dimensional space resources" such as soil and natural precipitation, air oxygen, and solar energy. They are the main natural "manufacturers" of food on which humans rely. They are the fundamental things for continuation of human life from ancient times to the present, and also the fundamental reliance for sustainable survival in the future. This is the unchanging science and "natural principle". For thousands of years, the utilization effect of shallow plowing layer soil formed by traditional plowing and raking is regarded as the "first level" scientific problem of "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory".

3.2Fenlongfarmingutilizationof"three-dimensionalspaceresources"isthesecondlevelFenlong farming makes friendly use of the "three-dimensional space resources", and explores 10 new huge natural forces, increases the yield of cultivated land and saline-alkali land by 20%-50%, increases land reserves of the natural precipitation by one time, and can also alleviate disasters such as drought, floods and high temperature, low temperature, climate warming,etc., so it is undoubtedly the "second level" scientific problem of the "three-dimensional space resource" of "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory".

3.3Overallcoordinatedandincrementalutilizationof"three-dimensionalspaceresources"basedonFenlongisthethirdlevelThe connotation of directly or indirectly revitalizing the "three-dimensional space resources" based on Fenlong farming includes the plow bottom of the existing farmland and the soil resources below it, and the unused saline-alkali land, desertified land, degraded grassland and river water resources, the overall coordinated use of mountains and forests and other biological resources on the ground. It will further expand the space for human survival and development, and enable humans to obtain the highest level of survival and quality of life. Therefore, overall coordinated and incremental utilization of "three-dimensional space resources" based on Fenlong is the third level of "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory".

4 "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory" invented the scientific and technological system of farming tools, farming machinery and farming modes

The core scientific concept of Fenlong Technology is a "full-layer plowing" model. It breaks the plow and shredded soil and shallow plowing of the millennium-consistent farming system, creates a precedent for the farming of "ultra-deep plowing, deep loosening without disturbing soil layer". It promotes the cultivation of various lands including saline-alkali land resources, and also promotes the friendly incremental utilization of "three-dimensional space resources".

4.1Corefarmingtoolofutilizationof"three-dimensionalspaceresources":theinventionofseriesofFenlongfarmingtoolsThe plow has been used in farming for more than 5 000 years, and is reputed as one of the greatest inventions of mankind by Bill Gates. Fenlong farming invented the "drills" for vertical deep rotary tillage, including vertical auger drill, vertical hollow two-cut drill, vertical hollow three-cut drill, and upper vertical drill+lower plowshare combination series. These Fenlong farming tools are a powerful force and support for the friendly and incremental utilization of the "three-dimensional space resources" of various types of land and are a new source of common wealth for human beings.

4.2Pivotfortheutilizationof"three-dimensionalspaceresources":theinventionofFenlongagriculturalmachineryandequipmentBased on the core farming tools of Fenlong Technology, a series of Fenlong agricultural machinery and equipment have been invented and manufactured, and more than 10 products of 6 types that can be applied to dry land, paddy field, saline-alkali land, desertified land, degraded grassland transformation and special farming have been initially derived. Fenlong agricultural machinery and equipment include crawler self-propelled powder ridge tillage machine, tractor-mounted powder ridge machine, tractor traction type Fenlong farming machine, as well as intermittent Fenlong farming machine, bottom tillage farming machine, side bottom tillage farming machine,etc., covering the development needs of "big pattern agriculture".

4.3High-efficientfarmingmodefortheutilizationof"three-dimensionalspatialresources":theinventionofmanykindsofFenlongfarmingmodesBased on the features of Fenlong farming deep loosening without disturbing soil layer, it has invented Fenlong full-layer cultivation, intermittent strip full-layer cultivation, vegetation protective bottom cultivation, vegetation protective side bottom cultivation,etc., which can meet the needs of dry land, rice field, saline land, desertified land, degraded grassland transformation and special cultivation needs, to benefit the human beings in the future.

5 "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory" sets up a sci-tech system of three magic weapons for cultivation

Based on utilization of "three-dimensional space resources", "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory" creates three magic weapons for cultivation.

5.1Fenlongrain-fedwater-savingcultivationmethodBased on Fenlong farming, the "super farming layer" and the "super farmland reservoir" have been built, and the "Fenlong rain-fed water-saving cultivation method" has been created. This cultivation method is suitable for dry land and saline-alkali crops, and it is water-saving ecological cultivation with rain-fed as the main and irrigation as the supplementary. It completely changes traditional agriculture and relies mainly on water conservancy irrigation and manual micro-irrigation, to achieve ideal yield.

5.2Fenlongpaddyfieldrain-fedenvironmental-friendlycultivationmethodBased on Fenlong paddy field farming, the tillage of about 25 cm has excellent water retention, fertilizer retention and air permeability. This creates the "environmental-friendly cultivation method of Fenlong paddy field rain-fed cultivation". The core is that when rice is planted in a Fenlong paddy field, Fenlong soil and water and fertilizer are kept in the paddy field without losing to the outside. This method includes paddy field Fenlong dry soil seedling throwing and backwater, paddy field Fenlong backwater soft soil, and paddy field Fenlong direct sowing cultivation techniques. At the early stage, it is mainly the water conservancy and irrigation. At the middle and late stages, natural rainfall is used as much as possible, alternating between dry and wet.

5.3FenlongplantingandfallowcultivationalternatingmethodFenlong planting and fallow cultivation alternating method is a brand-new technique. In accordance with the principles of farming and land maintenance, farming and fallow, and concentrated use of land, fertilizer and water is implemented to improve utilization, and intermittent farming is implemented for some dryland crops. For example, sugarcane Fenlong "145" mode (narrow row Fenlong 90 cm, depth 50 cm, double row planting, wide row about 2 m no tillage and no planting, Fenlong planting for 1 year, ratoon for 4 years and 5 years, the accumulative increase of raw material sugarcane up to 5 000 kg), maize, cotton, watermelon,etc. can adopt the proportion of 20%-50% to 80%-50% for Fenlong farming and no-tillage land, to improve the crop planting mechanization or semi-mechanization, increase the cyclical fallow of part of the land, and improve the ecological and economic benefits.

6 Basic connotation for promoting the improvement of grain ecology and expanding the living spaces and realizing sustainable development of the Chinese nation

6.1PathsandactualeffectsofthesubstantialexpansionofthelivingspacesoftheChinesenationIn accordance with the above three-level scientific theories of "three-dimensional space resources" of "Fenlong Agricultural Nature Theory", it is necessary to make an overall plan and utilize the three-dimensional space resources of the land and greatly expand the living spaces of the Chinese nation. This is the fundamental cornerstone of the sustainable development.

It is necessary to expand the current single "cultivated land agriculture" and shallow tillage agriculture (average 16.5 cm) to the Fenlong "big agriculture" of "cultivated land+saline land+degraded grassland+marginal land+desertified land+river water body", deepen the existing 6.7×107ha of cultivated land to 30-40 cm+saline land (1.3×107ha)+part of degraded grassland (6.7×107ha)+part of marginal land improvement+desertified land ecological reconstruction+river water body activation for natural fish farming and utilization. Under the situation of reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides by 30%-50% in the whole country, the comprehensive benefits of high-yield, high-quality, water-saving, fertilizer-saving, ecology, and disaster reduction can be increased by more than 50%, and new grains, meats, and fish can feed the population of 300-400 million; 147 million ha of land resources are used to build a "soil reservoir", which will increase storage and conservation of water resources by about 100 billion m3on land every year, and reduce the groundwater collection by 20 million to 60 billion m3.

6.2Changeinthenaturaldevelopmentprospectsofhigh-qualityfoodsourcesWith full application of various Fenlong farming modes, the above-mentioned agricultural resources and water resources available will be increased significantly. It is necessary to conform to local conditions and crop conditions, and make a flexible use of new techniques of crop cultivation. Besides, it is necessary to follow the principle of "sufficiency to eat", fertilizer reduction, pesticide reduction, water saving, and balance of agriculture and ecology, make an overall plan for the output of grain, meat, milk, fish and other agricultural products, to realize the change in the natural development prospects of high-quality food sources.

6.3ChangeintheprospectsforhealthydevelopmentofsoilremediationThe greatest foundation of human health is healthy soil, water resources, and air. Fenlong farming itself has the function of removing and remediating soil pollution residues. Utilizing the three levels of the comprehensive scientific utilization of three-dimensional space resources, the agricultural planting system is expected to be changed from "tractor plowing+improved seeds+fertilizers and pesticides+water conservancy irrigation" to "Fenlong farming+improved seeds+appropriate fertilizers and pesticides+appropriate water irrigation. The key is to reduce chemical fertilizers and pesticides, to gradually remediate the contaminated soil and provide healthy soil for future generations.

6.4Changeofenvironmentandclimatetobetterprospects

The improvement of the environment and climate is undoubtedly an important foundation for the expansion of human living spaces, a more harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and a better quality of life for human beings. Fenlong farming activates the three-dimensional space resources, and reduces the impact of drought, flood and extreme weather disasters with the "power of nature"; Fenlong farming also effectively sequesters carbon and reduces emissions and increases the air humidity on the ground. With such combined effect, it is expected that the environment and climate will develop with better prospects.

7 Discussions and recommendations

Fenlong Technology explores new relative "limits" of agricultural growth. From the perspective of using soil and natural precipitation, air oxygen, solar energy and other three-dimensional space resources to "manufacture" food and other agricultural products, and different farming methods, slash and burn, manual assistance, livestock plowing, tractor plowing,etc., there is a relative "limit" level of agricultural output for every farming method. Obviously, Fenlong plowing layer is doubled without disturbing the soil layer, and the "five reservoirs" of soil nutrients, soil moisture, soil oxygen, soil microbes, and soil biodiversity needed for crops to increase again are reconstructed, and multiple increment utilization of inexhaustible "three-dimensional space resources" such as soil, water, air, and light has formed a rare common key technological effect such as "increasing yield and improving quality, retaining water and fertilizer, reducing disasters, improving ecological improvement, and benefiting human health". All these are relative "limits" of the highest level of modern agricultural growth. The release of these relative "limits" can naturally expand the spaces for human survival and development, create a better living environment for human beings, and realize the modernization of human beings living in harmony with nature.

The scientific theory based on Felong using "three-dimensional space resources" and the relative "limit" rules of agricultural growth is an important path to re-understand nature, respect nature, use nature, and expand the spaces for human survival and development. In this sense, it is recommended that the government and academic circles give due attention. Fenlong Technology system covers from the activation of various land resources to crop planting, the effectivein-situstorage of natural precipitation, and the optimization of the three-dimensional spatial ecological environment. It can realize the grain increase, water conservation, ecological improvement and human living space expansion. Therefore, the state should attach great importance to Fenlong Technology. In summary, the implementation of Fenlong big agriculture contributes to contemporary times and brings benefits for future centuries, the state should formulate corresponding development plans and policy measures.