Enhancing the Carbon Sequestration Potential of Agricultural Soils for Achieving Carbon Neutrality

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Agroecology Innovation: Achieving System Resilience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 5508

Special Issue Editor

Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, China
Interests: soil erosion and carbon dynamics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural soils can mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases and enhance soil sustainability, carbon sequestration in agricultural soils is an important way to reduce carbon emissions, achieve carbon neutrality and mitigate global climate change. Enhancing soil carbon sequestration through environmentally sound land/agronomic management practices has been recognized as an avenue for climate change adaptation, GHG mitigation, and food security. A deeper understanding for promoting practices that enhance the carbon sequestration potential in agricultural soils is an urgent and timely need to mitigate GHGs and achieve carbon neutrality for the sustainable development of agriculture.  

This Special Issue will be dedicated to publishing papers on enhancing soil C sequestration and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils to achieve C neutrality. This topic is within the scope of Agronomy, which is suitable for publishing cross-disciplinary international academic papers on agronomy and agroecology.

For this Special Issue, we welcome original research and review articles that address the biogeochemical, environmental, agronomic management and climate impacts of agricultural systems, including but not limited to carbon sequestration, GHG mitigation and the assessment of soil carbon sequestration potential.

Dr. Hanqing Yu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • carbon sequestration
  • SOC dynamic mechanism process model
  • land/agronomic management practices

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 2629 KiB  
Article
A Framework Combining CENTURY Modeling and Chronosequences Sampling to Estimate Soil Organic Carbon Stock in an Agricultural Region with Large Land Use Change
by Xiaoyu Liu, Yin Chen, Yang Liu, Shihang Wang, Jiaming Jin, Yongcun Zhao and Dongsheng Yu
Agronomy 2023, 13(4), 1055; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13041055 - 05 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1288
Abstract
Agricultural land use has a remarkable influence on the stock and distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, both regional soil sampling and process-based ecosystem models for SOC estimation at the regional scale have limitations when applied in areas with a large land [...] Read more.
Agricultural land use has a remarkable influence on the stock and distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, both regional soil sampling and process-based ecosystem models for SOC estimation at the regional scale have limitations when applied in areas with a large land use change. In the present study, a framework (CMCS) combining CENTURY modeling (CM) and chronosequences sampling (CS) was established, and a case study was conducted in Cangshan County, where vegetable cultivation conversion from grain production was significant in recent decades. The SOC stock (SOCS) of the non-vegetable area estimated by CM was comparable to that estimated by regional soil sampling in 2008. This result confirmed that CM was reliable in modeling SOC dynamics in a non-vegetable area without land use change. However, when applied to the overall cropland of Cangshan County, the CM, without considering the land use change, underestimated the SOCS by 0.23 Tg (6%), compared with the observed measurements (3.58 and 3.81 Tg, respectively). Using the CMCS framework of our study, the underestimation of CM was offset by the SOC sequestration estimated by CS. The SOCS estimated by the CMCS framework ranged from 3.72 to 4.02 Tg, demonstrating that this framework is reliable for the regional SOC estimation of large-area land use change. In addition, annual SOCS dynamics were obtained by this framework. The CMCS framework provides a low-cost and practicable method for the estimation of the regional SOC dynamic, which can further support the strategy of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in China. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 2877 KiB  
Article
Yam Staking Reduces Soil Loss Due to Crop Harvesting under Agronomic Management System: Environmental Effect of Soil Carbon Loss
by Suarau Oshunsanya, Hanqing Yu, Chibuzo Onunka, Victor Samson, Ayodeji Odebode, Shamsideen Sebiotimo and Tingting Xue
Agronomy 2022, 12(12), 3024; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12123024 - 29 Nov 2022
Viewed by 2109
Abstract
The staking (elevating creeping vines above the ground with poles) of yam is practiced to optimize crop yield, but its effect on soil loss due to crop harvesting (SLCH-soil adhering to harvested tubers) and its associated carbon loss has not been investigated globally. [...] Read more.
The staking (elevating creeping vines above the ground with poles) of yam is practiced to optimize crop yield, but its effect on soil loss due to crop harvesting (SLCH-soil adhering to harvested tubers) and its associated carbon loss has not been investigated globally. A 3-year field experiment was conducted to study the yam (Dioscorea rotundata) staking effect on SLCH and to examine the environmental effect of soil carbon loss. Staking reduced soil loss due to crop harvesting by 55.6% and increased yam yield by 33.3% when compared to un-staking. Soil carbon loss and root hair weight per tuber yield decreased by 47.7 and 58.4%, respectively, under staking compared with un-staking practices. The un-staking with higher moisture (≃42%) exported two times more soil-available nutrients (N, P, K and Ca) than staking. SLCH was also linearly related to root hair weight (R2 = 0.88–0.75; p < 0.05) and moisture content (R2 = 0.79–0.63; p < 0.05). The lower ratio of root hair weight to tuber yield coupled with moderate mound moisture in staking neutralized its higher tuber yield effect on SLCH by reducing soil loss and its carbon loss. Thus, yam staking mitigates soil loss and its carbon loss which can increase the sequestration potential of soil carbon stock. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 3097 KiB  
Article
Optimized Ridge–Furrow Ratio to Decrease Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Increase Winter Wheat Yield in Dry Semi-Humid Areas
by Xiaoli Liu, Yandong Wang, Xiaolong Ren and Xiaoli Chen
Agronomy 2022, 12(8), 1815; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12081815 - 30 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1428
Abstract
The plastic-mulched ridge–furrow rainwater harvesting (RF) system has been widely adopted worldwide due to its visible economic benefits. However, few and inconclusive studies have focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, it is still unknown whether different coverage ratios under RF have [...] Read more.
The plastic-mulched ridge–furrow rainwater harvesting (RF) system has been widely adopted worldwide due to its visible economic benefits. However, few and inconclusive studies have focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, it is still unknown whether different coverage ratios under RF have an impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we evaluate the effects of various coverage ratios on the soil hydrothermal characteristics, global warming potential (GWP), greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI), and yield productivity in dry semi-humid areas. A control (FP, conventional flat planting without mulching) and three different ridge–furrow ratios (40:40 (RF40), 40:60 (RF60), and 40:80 (RF80)) were tested in 2017–2019. Compared with FP, RF increased the soil temperature and promoted soil moisture in the furrows during the vegetative growth period. However, the soil temperature of the furrows slightly increased with furrow width, whereas the soil moisture obviously decreased under the three RF practices. In a wet year (2017–2018), FP significantly increased the winter wheat yield (43.6%) compared with RF, while the opposite was the case in a normal year (2018–2019). Among the three RF treatments, RF40 and RF80 significantly increased the yield by 13.9% and 17.2%, respectively, compared with RF60. Compared with FP, all of the RF treatments increased the flux of N2O and CO2 emissions but reduced CH4 absorption. Compared with FP, RF with ridge–furrow ratios of 40:40 cm, 40:60 cm, and 40:80 cm increased the GWP by 99.6%, 53.4%, and 31.3%, respectively, and increased the GHGI by 55.8%, 45.3%, and 0.7%, respectively. Therefore, conventional flat planting in wet years and a ridge–furrow ratio of 40:71 cm in normal years can reduce GHG emissions, sustaining crop productivity, and promote the sustainable development of agriculture and the environment. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop