scholarly journals Leveraging drought risk reduction for sustainable food, soil and climate via soil organic carbon sequestration

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshichika Iizumi ◽  
Rota Wagai
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Drought Risk ◽  
Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Economic Output

AbstractDrought is a major risk in global agriculture. Building-up soil organic carbon (SOC) enhances soil fertility and efficient use of rainwater, which can increase drought tolerance in food production. SOC management demonstrates its benefit at various locations and is a promising means to achieve food security and climate mitigation at once. However, no global assessment of its potential and co-benefits gained from SOC enhancement has been presented. Here we evaluated the extent to which SOC build-up could reduce agricultural drought risk. Using statistical analysis of spatially-explicit global crop and soil datasets, we find that relatively small enhancement in topsoil (0–30 cm) organic carbon content (OCtop) could increase drought tolerance of the food production systems operating over 70% of the global harvested area (particularly drylands). By closing the gap between current and upper limit of tolerance levels through SOC addition of 4.87 GtC at the global scale, farmer’s economic output in drought years would increase by ~16%. This level of SOC increase has co-benefit of reducing global decadal mean temperature warming by 0.011 °C. Our findings highlight that progress towards multiple development goals can be leveraged by SOC enhancement in carbon (C)-poor soils in drier regions around the world.

scholarly journals Soil physical quality in response to intensification of grain production systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 647-655
Author(s):  
Paula K. Mota ◽  
Bruno M. Silva ◽  
Emerson Borghi ◽  
João H. M. Viana ◽  
Álvaro V. de Resende ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Grain Production ◽  
Maize Crop ◽  
Soil Fertilization ◽  
Physical Quality ◽  
Soil Physical Quality ◽  
Crop Succession

ABSTRACT The Brazilian Cerrado stands out in relation to grain production, however, in this region the occurrence of summer and irregular rainfall, drastically harm the non-irrigated production. Conservationist managements favor the soil physical quality and, consequently, the efficiency of soil water consumption. The objective of this study was to evaluate the soil physical quality, as a function of the conservation managements adopted, by using physical soil quality indicators, and to verify its relation with the soil organic carbon stocks and the grain yield in the Cerrado of Minas Gerais state, Brazil. For that, six treatments were evaluated: soybean (1) and maize (2) monocultures crop systems at medium level of investment in soil fertilization, soybean-maize crop succession at medium (3) and high (6) level of investment in soil fertilization, and crop succession of soybean-maize and intercropped with Urochloa ruziziensis at medium (4) and high (5) level of investment in soil fertilization, during the initial stage of no-tillage system. The treatments 3, 4, 5 and 6 showed improvement in the soil physical quality in relation to the monoculture. Pore distribution and soil organic carbon content were the main responsible for discriminating the intensified crop systems. Attributes related to water availability were important for plant growth in the 0-0.05 m layer, while for the 0.15-0.20 m layer, the highest soil aeration stood out. Productivity did not correlate with the evaluated attributes.

Space-time monitoring of soil organic carbon content across a semi-arid region of Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. e00367
Author(s):  
Patrick Filippi ◽  
Stephen R. Cattle ◽  
Matthew J. Pringle ◽  
Thomas F.A. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Carbon Content ◽  
Arid Region ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Semi Arid Region ◽  
Semi Arid

scholarly journals Influence of Slope Gradient and Aspect on Soil Organic Carbon Content in the Region of Niš, Serbia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8332
Author(s):  
Snežana Jakšić ◽  
Jordana Ninkov ◽  
Stanko Milić ◽  
Jovica Vasin ◽  
Milorad Živanov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Slope Aspect ◽  
Available Phosphorus ◽  
Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Slope Gradient ◽  
Phosphorus And Potassium ◽  
Uncultivated Land

Topography-induced microclimate differences determine the local spatial variation of soil characteristics as topographic factors may play the most essential role in changing the climatic pattern. The aim of this study was to investigate the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) with respect to the slope gradient and aspect, and to quantify their influence on SOC within different land use/cover classes. The study area is the Region of Niš in Serbia, which is characterized by complex topography with large variability in the spatial distribution of SOC. Soil samples at 0–30 cm and 30–60 cm were collected from different slope gradients and aspects in each of the three land use/cover classes. The results showed that the slope aspect significantly influenced the spatial distribution of SOC in the forest and vineyard soils, where N- and NW-facing soils had the highest level of organic carbon in the topsoil. There were no similar patterns in the uncultivated land. No significant differences were found in the subsoil. Organic carbon content was higher in the topsoil, regardless of the slope of the terrain. The mean SOC content in forest land decreased with increasing slope, but the difference was not statistically significant. In vineyards and uncultivated land, the SOC content was not predominantly determined by the slope gradient. No significant variations across slope gradients were found for all observed soil properties, except for available phosphorus and potassium. A positive correlation was observed between SOC and total nitrogen, clay, silt, and available phosphorus and potassium, while a negative correlation with coarse sand was detected. The slope aspect in relation to different land use/cover classes could provide an important reference for land management strategies in light of sustainable development.

scholarly journals Soil age and soil organic carbon content shape biochemical responses to multiple freeze–thaw events in soils along a postmining agricultural chronosequence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Rosinger ◽  
Michael Bonkowski
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Biomass ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Carbon Content ◽  
Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Freeze Thaw ◽  
Biochemical Responses ◽  
Microbial Responses ◽  
Soil Age ◽  
Carbon Losses

AbstractFreeze–thaw (FT) events exert a great physiological stress on the soil microbial community and thus significantly impact soil biogeochemical processes. Studies often show ambiguous and contradicting results, because a multitude of environmental factors affect biogeochemical responses to FT. Thus, a better understanding of the factors driving and regulating microbial responses to FT events is required. Soil chronosequences allow more focused comparisons among soils with initially similar start conditions. We therefore exposed four soils with contrasting organic carbon contents and opposing soil age (i.e., years after restoration) from a postmining agricultural chronosequence to three consecutive FT events and evaluated soil biochgeoemical responses after thawing. The major microbial biomass carbon losses occurred after the first FT event, while microbial biomass N decreased more steadily with subsequent FT cycles. This led to an immediate and lasting decoupling of microbial biomass carbon:nitrogen stoichiometry. After the first FT event, basal respiration and the metabolic quotient (i.e., respiration per microbial biomass unit) were above pre-freezing values and thereafter decreased with subsequent FT cycles, demonstrating initially high dissimilatory carbon losses and less and less microbial metabolic activity with each iterative FT cycle. As a consequence, dissolved organic carbon and total dissolved nitrogen increased in soil solution after the first FT event, while a substantial part of the liberated nitrogen was likely lost through gaseous emissions. Overall, high-carbon soils were more vulnerable to microbial biomass losses than low-carbon soils. Surprisingly, soil age explained more variation in soil chemical and microbial responses than soil organic carbon content. Further studies are needed to dissect the factors associated with soil age and its influence on soil biochemical responses to FT events.

scholarly journals Impact of soil use on aggregate stability and its relationship with soil organic carbon at two different altitudes in the Colombian Andes

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-273
Author(s):  
Efraín Francisco Visconti-Moreno ◽  
Ibonne Geaneth Valenzuela-Balcázar
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Aggregate Stability ◽  
Tropical Climate ◽  
Mineral Particle ◽  
Organic Carbon Content ◽  
Rice Soils ◽  
Organic Matter Pool ◽  
Different Altitudes

The stability of soil aggregates depends on the organic matter, and the soil use and management can affect the soil organicmatter (SOM) content. Therefore, it is necessary to know therelationship between aggregate stability and the content of SOMin different types of soil use at two different altitudes of theColombian Andes. This study examined the conditions of soilaggregate stability expressed as a distribution of the size classes of stable aggregates (SA) and of the mean weighted diameter of the stable aggregates (MWD). To correlate these characteristics with the soil organic carbon (OC), we measured the particulate organic matter pool (POC), the OC associated with the mineral organic matter pool (HOC), the total organic carbon content (TOC), and the humification rate (HR). Soils were sampled at two altitudes: 1) Humic Dystrudepts in a cold tropical climate (CC) with three plots: tropical mountain rainforest, pastures, and crops; 2) Fluvaquentic Dystrudepts in a warm tropical climate (WC) with three plots: tropical rainforest, an association of oil palm and pastures, and irrigated rice. Soils were sampled at three depths: 0-5, 5-10 and 10-20 cm. The physical properties, mineral particle size distribution, and bulk density were measured. The content of SA with size>2.36 mm was higher in the CC soil (51.48%) than in the WC soil (9.23%). The SA with size 1.18-2.36 mm was also higher in the CC soil (7.78%) than in the WC soil (0.62%). The SA with size 0.60-1.18 mm resulted indifferent. The SA with size between 0.30 and 0.60 mm were higher in the WC soil (13.95%) than in the CC soil (4.67%). The SA<0.30 mm was higher in the WC soil (72.56%) than in the CC soil (32.15%). It was observed that MWD and the SA>2.36 mm increased linearly with a higher POC, but decreased linearly with a higher HR. For the SA<0.30 mm, a linear decrease was observed at a higher POC, while it increased at a higher HR.

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