Change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops

© Authors. 2020. This study evaluates the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) under perennial crops across the globe. It quantifies the effect of change from annual to perennial crops and the subsequent temporal changes in SOC stocks during the perennial crop cycle. It also presents an empirica...

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Main Authors: Ledo, Alicia, Smith, Peter, Zerihun, Ayalsew, Whitaker, Jeanette, Vicente-Vicente, Jose Luis, Qin, Zhangcai, McNamara, Niall P, Zinn, Yuri L, Llorente, Mireia, Liebig, Mark, Kuhnert, Matthias, Dondini, Marta, Don, Axel, Diaz-Pines, Eugenio, Datta, Ashim, Bakka, Haakon, Aguilera, Eduardo, Hillier, Jon
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2020
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/79265
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author Ledo, Alicia
Smith, Peter
Zerihun, Ayalsew
Whitaker, Jeanette
Vicente-Vicente, Jose Luis
Qin, Zhangcai
McNamara, Niall P
Zinn, Yuri L
Llorente, Mireia
Liebig, Mark
Kuhnert, Matthias
Dondini, Marta
Don, Axel
Diaz-Pines, Eugenio
Datta, Ashim
Bakka, Haakon
Aguilera, Eduardo
Hillier, Jon
author_facet Ledo, Alicia
Smith, Peter
Zerihun, Ayalsew
Whitaker, Jeanette
Vicente-Vicente, Jose Luis
Qin, Zhangcai
McNamara, Niall P
Zinn, Yuri L
Llorente, Mireia
Liebig, Mark
Kuhnert, Matthias
Dondini, Marta
Don, Axel
Diaz-Pines, Eugenio
Datta, Ashim
Bakka, Haakon
Aguilera, Eduardo
Hillier, Jon
author_sort Ledo, Alicia
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © Authors. 2020. This study evaluates the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) under perennial crops across the globe. It quantifies the effect of change from annual to perennial crops and the subsequent temporal changes in SOC stocks during the perennial crop cycle. It also presents an empirical model to estimate changes in the SOC content under crops as a function of time, land use, and site characteristics. We used a harmonized global dataset containing paired‐comparison empirical values of SOC and different types of perennial crops (perennial grasses, palms, and woody plants) with different end uses: bioenergy, food, other bio‐products, and short rotation coppice. Salient outcomes include: a 20‐year period encompassing a change from annual to perennial crops led to an average 20% increase in SOC at 0–30 cm (6.0 ± 4.6 Mg/ha gain) and a total 10% increase over the 0–100 cm soil profile (5.7 ± 10.9 Mg/ha). A change from natural pasture to perennial crop decreased SOC stocks by 1% over 0–30 cm (−2.5 ± 4.2 Mg/ha) and 10% over 0–100 cm (−13.6 ± 8.9 Mg/ha). The effect of a land use change from forest to perennial crops did not show significant impacts, probably due to the limited number of plots; but the data indicated that while a 2% increase in SOC was observed at 0–30 cm (16.81 ± 55.1 Mg/ha), a decrease in 24% was observed at 30–100 cm (−40.1 ± 16.8 Mg/ha). Perennial crops generally accumulate SOC through time, especially woody crops; and temperature was the main driver explaining differences in SOC dynamics, followed by crop age, soil bulk density, clay content, and depth. We present empirical evidence showing that the FAO perennialization strategy is reasonable, underscoring the role of perennial crops as a useful component of climate change mitigation strategies.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:12:48Z
publishDate 2020
publisher Wiley-Blackwell
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-792652020-08-20T01:31:46Z Change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops Ledo, Alicia Smith, Peter Zerihun, Ayalsew Whitaker, Jeanette Vicente-Vicente, Jose Luis Qin, Zhangcai McNamara, Niall P Zinn, Yuri L Llorente, Mireia Liebig, Mark Kuhnert, Matthias Dondini, Marta Don, Axel Diaz-Pines, Eugenio Datta, Ashim Bakka, Haakon Aguilera, Eduardo Hillier, Jon © Authors. 2020. This study evaluates the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) under perennial crops across the globe. It quantifies the effect of change from annual to perennial crops and the subsequent temporal changes in SOC stocks during the perennial crop cycle. It also presents an empirical model to estimate changes in the SOC content under crops as a function of time, land use, and site characteristics. We used a harmonized global dataset containing paired‐comparison empirical values of SOC and different types of perennial crops (perennial grasses, palms, and woody plants) with different end uses: bioenergy, food, other bio‐products, and short rotation coppice. Salient outcomes include: a 20‐year period encompassing a change from annual to perennial crops led to an average 20% increase in SOC at 0–30 cm (6.0 ± 4.6 Mg/ha gain) and a total 10% increase over the 0–100 cm soil profile (5.7 ± 10.9 Mg/ha). A change from natural pasture to perennial crop decreased SOC stocks by 1% over 0–30 cm (−2.5 ± 4.2 Mg/ha) and 10% over 0–100 cm (−13.6 ± 8.9 Mg/ha). The effect of a land use change from forest to perennial crops did not show significant impacts, probably due to the limited number of plots; but the data indicated that while a 2% increase in SOC was observed at 0–30 cm (16.81 ± 55.1 Mg/ha), a decrease in 24% was observed at 30–100 cm (−40.1 ± 16.8 Mg/ha). Perennial crops generally accumulate SOC through time, especially woody crops; and temperature was the main driver explaining differences in SOC dynamics, followed by crop age, soil bulk density, clay content, and depth. We present empirical evidence showing that the FAO perennialization strategy is reasonable, underscoring the role of perennial crops as a useful component of climate change mitigation strategies. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/79265 10.1111/gcb.15120 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wiley-Blackwell fulltext
spellingShingle Ledo, Alicia
Smith, Peter
Zerihun, Ayalsew
Whitaker, Jeanette
Vicente-Vicente, Jose Luis
Qin, Zhangcai
McNamara, Niall P
Zinn, Yuri L
Llorente, Mireia
Liebig, Mark
Kuhnert, Matthias
Dondini, Marta
Don, Axel
Diaz-Pines, Eugenio
Datta, Ashim
Bakka, Haakon
Aguilera, Eduardo
Hillier, Jon
Change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
title Change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
title_full Change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
title_fullStr Change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
title_full_unstemmed Change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
title_short Change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
title_sort change in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/79265