scholarly journals Prospects of bicar as soil amendment in Nepal hill farming systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 92-103
Author(s):  
Ngamindra Dahal ◽  
Roshan Man Bajracharya ◽  
Juerg Merz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Amendment ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Soil Microbial Activity ◽  
Soil Types ◽  
Soil Productivity ◽  
Cropping Patterns

Burning of biomass under controlled temperature and oxygen limited environment produces biochar along with syn-gases and bio-oil. A significant volume of literatures portray biochar as a remedial option to meet growing needs of amending agricultural soils for global food security and carbon sequestration to curb climate change. Biochar has generated huge interests among agro-practitioners mainly for its two sets of benefits. The first set of benefits is about desirable changes in soil function that includes enhanced soil microbial activity, retention of nutrients and moisture, alkaline effect for treating acidic soils and, increased porosity on soil structure. The second set includes enhanced adaptive capacity of agricultural systems to climate change impacts, and, carbon sequestration due to its recalcitrant nature that remain in soil for a very long period. These acclaimed effects of biochar on soils are among the much sought-after remedies to heal a number of soil health ailments that millions of farmers and policy planners are looking for. However, effectiveness of biochar has yet to be examined carefully in different soil types over diverse topography corresponding with local cropping patterns. Matching properties of soils with those of biochar is a prerequisite for any interventions aimed at soil amendment. Properties of biochar generally depend on feedstock types, and temperatures during pyrolysis. This review analyses major published works on different aspects of biochar with the key question of whether promotion of biochar could be a viable solution to address some of the critical concerns of soil productivity in the Nepal mid hills and concludes with a note that there are serious knowledge gaps in two fronts – systematic practice of biochar production and application in agricultural farms is yet to take off, and, documented evidences of effectiveness of biochar on various soil types and cropping patterns are insignificant.

Can an organically farmed world help to mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulysse Gaudaré ◽  
Matthias Kuhnert ◽  
Pete Smith ◽  
Manuel Martin ◽  
Pietro Barbieri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Soil Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change

<p>While the agricultural sector is responsible for 20-30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, agricultural lands may also represent an opportunity to mitigate climate change through soil carbon sequestration. In particular, organic farming is often presented as a way of farming that leads to increased soil carbon sequestration in croplands thanks to high soil carbon inputs, especially as animal manure (Skinner et al. 2013, Gattinger et al. 2012).</p><p>However, organic farming represents only ~1.4% of the global utilised agricultural area (UAA). In a world where organic farming would expand far above (e.g. up to 100% of the UAA), we expect stringent competition for fertilising materials and therefore, a reduction of organic yields beyond the current organic-to-conventional gap of ~20% (Seufert et al. 2012). Such yield reduction might impact the amount of carbon that returns to soil in form of crop roots and residues and, in fine, the soil organic carbon sequestration of organically managed croplands. The objective of the present study is to estimate to what extent soil carbon sequestration might be affected by organic farming expansion at the global scale.</p><p>To answer this question, we combined (i) the GOANIM model that estimates material and nutrient flows in the crop and livestock farming systems under different global scenarios of organic farming expansion and (ii) the RothC model that simulates soil carbon dynamics in agricultural soils. We combined those models with a series of global scenarios representing organic farming expansion together with a baseline simulating conventional – i.e. non-organic – farming systems and soil carbon inputs.</p><p>We found that organic farming expansion would negatively affect croplands’ SOC stocks at the global scale. We found a reduction of per-hectare soil carbon input in croplands of up to 40-60%. This is due to lower yields in an organic scenario because of nitrogen limitation (up to 60% lower than conventional), reducing the amount of crop residues returning to cropland. Another impact of lower yield is a reduction of feed availability and subsequently a reduction of animal population and manure spread to soil. This reduction of carbon input is lower if farming practices are adapted to foster biomass production and carbon inputs in soils (i.e. cover crops). Such results highlight the need of systemic approaches when estimating the mitigation potential of alternative farming systems.</p><p> </p><p>References</p><p>Gattinger, A. et al. (2012) ‘Enhanced top soil carbon stocks under organic farming’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(44), pp. 18226–18231. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1209429109.</p><p>Skinner, C. et al. (2014) ‘Greenhouse gas fluxes from agricultural soils under organic and non-organic management - A global meta-analysis’, Science of the Total Environment, 468–469, pp. 553–563. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.08.098.</p><p>Seufert, V., Ramankutty, N. and Foley, J. A. (2012) ‘Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture’, Nature, 485(7397), pp. 229–232. doi: 10.1038/nature11069.</p><p>Connor, D. J. (2008) ‘Organic agriculture cannot feed the world’, Field Crops Research, 106(2), pp. 187–190. doi: 10.1016/j.fcr.2007.11.010.</p>

scholarly journals Soil Microbial Activity and Diversity in Response to Soil Chemical Factors in Agricultural Soils

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Lily Ishak ◽  
Philip Hugh Brown
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Soil Microbial Activity ◽  
Soil Microbial Diversity ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Microbial Responses ◽  
Chemical Factors ◽  
Microbial Groups

The role of microbial communities in maintaining soil health is mostly influenced by chemical condition of soil. Microbial communities vary in response to soil chemical factors. The contradictive results from previous findings emphasise that it is difficult to define a pattern of the influence of soil chemical factors on soil microbial diversity and activity. The aim of the study was to assess soil microbial responses to soil chemical factors in agricultural soils. Composite soil (Dermosol order) samples taken from 16 commercial crop sites in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia, were chemically and biologically analysed. It was found that bacterial and fungal activity and diversity were significantly affected by soil EC, SOM and NO3-N content, but were not influenced by soil pH, CEC, and Ca:Mg ratio. The diversity of bacterial and fungal communities displayed a positive linear relationship with soil EC, whereas the activity and diversity of these two microbial groups and SOM displayed a significant quadratic relationship. The finding suggested that microbial community was predominantly influenced by SOM content.

Mitigation of Climate Change Through Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-118
Author(s):  
Zia Ur Rahman Farooqi ◽  
Muhammad Sabir ◽  
Muhammad Zia-Ur-Rehman ◽  
Muhammad Mahroz Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Agricultural Soils

scholarly journals Agritourism as a sustainable adaptation option for climate change

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 737-742
Author(s):  
R.P. Mahaliyanaarachchi ◽  
M.S. Elapata ◽  
M. Esham ◽  
B.C.H. Madhuwanthi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Adaptation Option ◽  
Climatic Effects ◽  
Cropping Patterns

AbstractThe global climate change has become one of the imperative issue for the smallholder dominated agriculture and tourism sectors in Sri Lanka. This study investigated the perception of farmers on climate change and the potential of agritourism as a sustainable adaptation option to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change in both tourism and agricultural sectors. The study was carried out in the low country dry zone (LCDZ) and the upcountry wet zone (UPWZ) of Sri Lanka. A survey strategy followed by structured and unstructured interviews were undertaken to collect the data. The sample was composed of 100 farmers each from the UPWZ and LCDZ respectively. The study revealed that there had been climate extremes in both climatic zones in terms of high rainfall and longer dry spells. Thus, it was important for the farmers to have necessary knowledge and skills on different diversification techniques related to crop-production, integrated farming systems and climate resilient production which are economical and mitigate the adverse climatic effects. However, the results revealed that the farmers have altered the cropping patterns and crop management practices rather than adopting entrepreneurial activities like agritourism. Lack of awareness of agritourism within the farming community is the main reason for farmers not contemplating this important diversification option. The results indicate that a significant number of farmers showed interest in considering agritourism as an option to mitigate climate change. It is important to educate farmers on diversification options.

scholarly journals Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vandit Vijay ◽  
Sowmya Shreedhar ◽  
Komalkant Adlak ◽  
Sachin Payyanad ◽  
Vandana Sreedharan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Rapid Urbanization

Increasing pressure on farming systems due to rapid urbanization and population growth has severely affected soil health and fertility. The need to meet the growing food demands has also led to unsustainable farming practices with the intensive application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Biochar, a multifunctional carbon material, is being actively explored globally for simultaneously addressing the concerns related to improving soil fertility and mitigating climate change. Reviews on biochar, however, mainly confined to lab-scale studies analyze biochar production and its characteristics, its effects on soil fertility, and carbon sequestration. The present review addresses this gap by focusing on biochar field trials to enhance the current understanding of its actual impact on the field, w.r.t. agriculture and climate change. The review presents an overview of the effects of biochar application as observed in field studies on soil health (soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties), crop productivity, and its potential role in carbon sequestration. General trends from this review indicate that biochar application provides higher benefits in soil properties and crop yield in degraded tropical soils vis-a-vis the temperate regions. The results also reveal diverse observations in soil health properties and crop yields with biochar amendment as different studies consider different crops, biochar feedstocks, and local climatic and soil conditions. Furthermore, it has been observed that the effects of biochar application in lab-scale studies with controlled environments are not always distinctly witnessed in corresponding field-based studies and the effects are not always synchronous across different regions. Hence, there is a need for more data, especially from well-designed long-term field trials, to converge and validate the results on the effectiveness of biochar on diverse soil types and agro-climatic zones to improve crop productivity and mitigate climate change.

scholarly journals Biochar: A Sustainable Approach for Improving Soil Health and Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shreya Das ◽  
Samanyita Mohanty ◽  
Gayatri Sahu ◽  
Mausami Rana ◽  
Kiran Pilli
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Crop Yield ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Soil Amendment ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Soil Contaminants ◽  
Multiple Challenges

Current agriculture faces multiple challenges due to boom in food demand and environmental concerns. Biochar is increasingly being recognized by scientists and policy makers for its potential role in carbon sequestration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, waste mitigation and as a soil amendment. The purpose of this review is to provide a balanced perspective on the agronomic and environmental impacts of biochar amendment to soil. Application of biochar to soil can play a significant role in the alteration of nutrients dynamics, soil contaminants as well as microbial functions. Therefore, strategic biochar application to soil may provide agronomic, environmental and economic benefits. Recent findings also supported that in order to enhance crop yield, improve soil quality and soil health, biochar has proven significant role as fertilizer and soil conditioner respectively.

scholarly journals Farming by soil in Europe: status and outlook of cropping systems under different pedoclimatic conditions

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8984
Author(s):  
Gergely Tóth ◽  
Tamás Kismányoky ◽  
Piroska Kassai ◽  
Tamás Hermann ◽  
Oihane Fernandez-Ugalde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Soil Types ◽  
Soil Productivity ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Climate Zones ◽  
Cropping Patterns ◽  
Climatic Regions ◽  
Soil Suitability ◽  
Crop Types ◽  
Economic Considerations

Background Despite of the importance of soils in agronomy, to date no comprehensive assessment of cropping in Europe has been performed from the viewpoint of the soil variability and its relationship to cropping patterns. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we studied the cropping patterns in different soils of European climate zones with regards to the shares of their crop types in a comparative manner. The study highlights the main features of farming by soil in Europe. Farming by soil in this context means the consideration of soil characteristics when selecting crop types and cropping patterns. Methods We first assessed the dissimilarity between the cropping compositions of different pedoclimatic zones in Europe. Next, we assessed the differences of crop distribution in the climate zones by soil types and main crop types by analyzing the degree of association of crops to soil types. A detailed country scale assessment was performed using crops-specific soil productivity maps and land use survey data from Hungary. Results Results suggest that, in general, farmers consciously take pedoclimatic condition of farming into account when selecting their cropping patterns. In other words, farming by soil is a common practice in the different climatic regions of Europe. However, we have strong reasons to believe that soil suitability-based cropping is not practiced to its full potential over the continent. For example, the findings of our European assessment suggest that production areas of legumes are not always optimized for the local pedoclimatic conditions in some zones. These findings also underline that economic drivers are decisive, when farmers adopt their cropping (eg. oil crops on Albeluvsiols in Europe). Win-win situations of economic considerations and soil suitability based management are observed in all pedoclimatic zones of Europe. The country analysis shows that cropping is progressively practiced on more suitable areas, depending also the crop tolerance to variable pedoclimatic conditions In conclusion, we can assume that pedoclimatic conditions of cropping are respected in most of Europe and farmers crops according to edaphic conditions whenever economic considerations do not override the ecological concerns of farming.

scholarly journals Forest defoliator pests alter carbon and nitrogen cycles

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 160361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne l-M-Arnold ◽  
Maren Grüning ◽  
Judy Simon ◽  
Annett-Barbara Reinhardt ◽  
Norbert Lamersdorf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Soil Microbial Activity ◽  
Quercus Petraea ◽  
Oak Forests ◽  
Operophtera Brumata ◽  
Winter Moth ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
C And N

Climate change may foster pest epidemics in forests, and thereby the fluxes of elements that are indicators of ecosystem functioning. We examined compounds of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in insect faeces, leaf litter, throughfall and analysed the soils of deciduous oak forests ( Quercus petraea  L.) that were heavily infested by the leaf herbivores winter moth ( Operophtera brumata  L.) and mottled umber ( Erannis defoliaria  L.). In infested forests, total net canopy-to-soil fluxes of C and N deriving from insect faeces, leaf litter and throughfall were 30- and 18-fold higher compared with uninfested oak forests, with 4333 kg C ha −1 and 319 kg N ha −1 , respectively, during a pest outbreak over 3 years. In infested forests, C and N levels in soil solutions were enhanced and C/N ratios in humus layers were reduced indicating an extended canopy-to-soil element pathway compared with the non-infested forests. In a microcosm incubation experiment, soil treatments with insect faeces showed 16-fold higher fluxes of carbon dioxide and 10-fold higher fluxes of dissolved organic carbon compared with soil treatments without added insect faeces (control). Thus, the deposition of high rates of nitrogen and rapidly decomposable carbon compounds in the course of forest pest epidemics appears to stimulate soil microbial activity (i.e. heterotrophic respiration), and therefore, may represent an important mechanism by which climate change can initiate a carbon cycle feedback.

Carbon sequestration in French agricultural soils: A spatial economic evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-316
Author(s):  
Laure Bamière ◽  
Pierre‐Alain Jayet ◽  
Salomé Kahindo ◽  
Elsa Martin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Agricultural Soils
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