Prade, Thomas
- Department of Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Conference paper2014Peer reviewed
Prade, Thomas; Svensson, Sven-Erik; Björnsson, Lovisa
Changes of soil organic carbon (SOC) content can have a substantial effect on greenhouse gas emissions, but are rarely included in crop production LCAs. SOC content strongly influences soil fertility and therefore crop yields, but is declining in many European soils. The present study investigated if integration of 1-2 years of grass-clover crops in a cereal-dominated crop rotation can increase the SOC pool and how this would impact food production. Results show that when grass-clover crops are integrated, the potential SOC content at steady state will be 41 to 52% higher than in the conventional cereal-dominated crop rotation. The net increase of wheat yields based on SOC improvements indicate that for a crop rotation with one year of grass-clover crops, the initial loss of food production can be counterbalanced due to the impact on fertility of the SOC increase.
soil organic carbon, grass-clover crops, food crop production, crop yield, soil carbon model
Title: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector
ISBN: 978-0-9882145-7-6
Publisher: American Center for Life Cycle Assessment
9th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector
Renewable Bioenergy Research
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Environmental Sciences
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/61769