Current status and environment impact of direct straw return in China’s cropland – A review

With the development of grain production technologies and improvement of rural living standard, the production and utilization of straw have significantly been changed in China. More than 1 billion tones of straw are produced per year, and vast amount of them are discarded without effective utilization, leading various environmental and social impacts. Straw return is an effective approach of the straw utilization that has been greatly recommended by government and scientists in China. This paper discussed the current status of the straw return in China. Specifically, the production and models of straw return were explored and their environmental impacts were extensively evaluated. It was concluded that straw could be positively effective on the improvement of the soil quality and the grain production. However, it appeared that the straw return also had several neglect negative effects, implying that further research and assessment on the returned straw are required before its large-scale promotion in China.