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Abstract

Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils has been proposed as an important climate change mitigation strategy. Carbon stocks in soils can be increased by different cropland management options, one of which is greater inclusion of perennial crops in crop rotations. This study compared the climate impact in a life cycle perspective of continuous ley-dominated rotations and continuous cereal rotations at two different sites (loam, clay) in Sweden. Effects of these systems on carbon content in topsoil and subsoil over 35 years were assessed based on data from two ongoing longterm field trials. The continuous cereal rotations led to a decrease in soil organic carbon stocks at both sites, resulting in an increase in overall climate impact of 8-19%. The ley-dominated rotationsincreased soil organic carbon stocks at both sites over time, contributing to a decrease in overall climate impact of 7% (clay) and 18% (loam). The high soil carbon accumulation in the ley rotation at the site with loamy soil, where soil carbon stocks increased in both topsoil and subsoil, waspossibly due to more roots entering the subsoil than at the site with clay soil.

Keywords

perennial crops; soil organic carbon sequestration; climate mitigation; subsoil

Published in

Mistra Food Futures Report
2022, number: 3
Publisher: Mistra Food Futures

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science

Publication identifier

  • ISBN: 9789180467513
  • eISBN: 978-91-8046-750-6

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/120202