A review of carbon farming impacts on nitrogen cycling, retention, and loss
- PMID: 34580879
- DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14690
A review of carbon farming impacts on nitrogen cycling, retention, and loss
Abstract
Soil carbon (C) sequestration in agricultural working lands via soil amendments and management practices is considered a relatively well-tested and affordable approach for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Carbon farming provides useful benefits for soil health, biomass production, and crop resilience, but the effects of different soil C sequestration approaches on the nitrogen (N) cycle remain controversial. While some C farming practices have been shown to reduce N fertilizer use in some cases, C farming could also impose an unwanted "N penalty" through which soil C gains can only be maintained with additional N inputs, thereby increasing N losses to the environment. We systematically reviewed meta-analysis studies on the impacts of C farming on N cycling in agroecosystems and estimated the cumulative effect of several C farming practices on N cycling. We found that, on average, combined C farming practices significantly reduced nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching from soils, thus inferring both N cycling and climate change benefits. In addition to more widely studied C farming practices that generate organic C, we also discuss silicate rock additions, which offer a pathway to inorganic C sequestration that does not require additional N inputs, framing important questions for future research.
Keywords: carbon farming; nitrate leaching; nitrogen availability; nitrogen cycling; nitrous oxide emissions; yield.
© 2021 New York Academy of Sciences.
References
-
- IPCC. Global warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate. 2018.
-
- Guenet, B., B. Gabrielle, C. Chenu, et al. 2021. Can N2O emissions offset the benefits from soil organic carbon storage? Glob. Chang. Biol. 27: 237-256.
-
- Bradford, M.A., C.J. Carey, L. Atwood, et al. 2019. Soil carbon science for policy and practice. Nat. Sustain. 2: 1070-1072.
-
- Smith, P., D. Martino, Z. Cai, et al. 2008. Greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 363: 789-813.
-
- McLaren, D. 2012. A comparative global assessment of potential negative emissions technologies. Process Saf. Environ. Prot. 90: 489-500.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
