SpringerLink
Log in

Soil organic matter, greenhouse gases and net global warming potential of irrigated conventional, reduced-tillage and organic crop** systems

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Reducing tillage intensity and diversifying crop rotations may improve the sustainability of irrigated crop** systems in semi-arid regions. The objective of this study was to compare the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil organic matter, and net global warming potential (net GWP) of a sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.)-corn (Zea mays L,) rotation under conventional (CT) and reduced-tillage (RT) and a corn-dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) rotation under organic (OR) management during the third and fourth years of 4-year crop rotations. The gas and soil samples were collected during April 2011–March 2013, and were analyzed for carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, water-filled pore space (WFPS), soil nitrate (NO3 −–N) and ammonium (NH4 +–N) concentrations, soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN), and net global warming potential (net GWP). Soils under RT had 26% lower CO2 emissions compared to 10.2 kg C ha−1 day−1 and 43% lower N2O emissions compared to 17.5 g N ha−1 day−1 in CT during crop** season 2011, and no difference in CO2 and N2O emissions during crop** season 2012. The OR emitted 31% less N2O, but 74% more CO2 than CT during crop season 2011. The RT had 34% higher SOC content than CT (17.9 Mg ha−1) while OR was comparable with CT. Net GWP was negative for RT and OR and positive for CT. The RT and OR can increase SOC sequestration, mitigate GWP and thereby support in the development of sustainable crop** systems in semiarid agroecosystems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baker JM, Ochsner TE, Venterea RT, Griffis TJ (2007) Tillage and soil carbon sequestration—what do we really know? Agric Ecosyst Environ 118:1–5

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bista P, Norton U, Ghimire R, Norton JB (2015) Greenhouse gas fluxes and soil carbon and nitrogen following single summer tillage event. Int J Plant Soil Sc 6:183–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black CA (1965) Methods of soil analysis. Part 1. Physical and mineralogical properties. American Society of Agronomy, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Blake GR, Hartge KH (1986) Bulk density. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Part 1. Physical and mineralogical methods. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 363–375

    Google Scholar 

  • Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) (2016) Tillage type definitions. http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/resourcedisplay/322/. Accessed 05 Aug 2016

  • Day PR (1965) Particle fraction and particle size analysis. In: Black CA, Evans DD, Ensminger LE, White JL, Clark FE (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part I. Physical and mineralogicalproperties including statistics of measurement and sampling. American Society of Agronomy Inc., Madison, pp 545–566

    Google Scholar 

  • Delate K, Cambardella CA (2004) Agroecosystem performance during transition to certified organic grain production. Agron J 96:1288–1298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doane TA, Horwath WR (2003) Spectrophotometric determination of nitrate with a single reagent. Anal Lett 36:2713–2722

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Drinkwater LE, Letourneau DK, Workneh F, Vanbruggen AHC, Shennan C (1995) Fundamental differences between conventional and organic tomato agroecosystems in california. Ecol Appl 5:1098–1112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fierer N, Schimel JP, Holden PA (2003) Variation in microbial community composition through two soil depth profiles. Soil Biol Biochem 35:167–176

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire R, Norton JB, Norton U, Ritten JP, Stahl PD, Krall JM (2013) Long-term farming systems research in the central high plains. Renew Agric Food Syst 28:183–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire R, Norton JB, Stahl PD, Norton U (2014a) Soil microbiotic properties under irrigated organic and reduced-tillage crop and forage production systems. PLoS ONE. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0103901

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire R, Norton JB, Pendall E (2014b) Alfalfa-grass biomass, soil organic carbon, and total nitrogen under different management approaches in an irrigated agroecosystem. Plant Soil 374:173–184

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guzman J, Al-Kaisi M, Parkin T (2015) Greenhouse gas emissions dynamics as influenced by corn residue removal in continuous corn system. Soil Sci Soc Am J 79:612–625

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Halvorson AD, Del Grosso SJ, Alluvione F (2010) Tillage and inorganic nitrogen source effects on nitrous oxide emissions from irrigated crop** systems. Soil Sci Soc Am J 74:436–445

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Halvorson AD, Stewart CE, Del Grosso SJ (2016) Manure and inorganic nitrogen affect irrigated corn yields and soil properties. Agron J. doi:10.2134/agronj2015.0402

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurisso TT, Norton U, Norton JB, Odhiambo J, Del Grosso S, Hergert GW, Lyon DJ (2016) Dryland soil greenhouse gases and yield-scaled emissions in no-till and organic winter wheat–fallow systems. Soil Sci Soc Am J 80:178–192

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson GL, Mosier AR (1981) Improved soil cover method for field measurement of nitrous oxide fluxes. Soil Sci Soc Am J 45:311–316

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) Climate change 2007. In: Metz B, Davidson OR, Bosch PR, Dave R, Meyer LA (eds) Working group III report. Mitigation of climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2014) The physical science basis. In: Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner GK, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, **a Y, Bex V, Midgley PM (eds) Contribution of working group 1-5th assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson JM, Archer D, Barbour N (2010) Greenhouse gas emission from contrasting management scenarios in the Northern Corn Belt. Soil Sci Soc Am J 74:396–406

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kong AYY, Fonte SJ, van Kessel C, Six J (2009) Transitioning from standard to minimum tillage: trade-offs between soil organic matter stabilization, nitrous oxide emissions, and N availability in irrigated crop** systems. Soil Tillage Res 104:256–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kravchenko AN, Robertson GP (2011) Whole-profile soil carbon stocks: the danger of assuming too much from analyses of too little. Soil Sci Soc Am J 75:235–240

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Linn DM, Doran JW (1984) Effect of water-filled pore space on carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide production in tilled and nontilled soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48:1267–1272

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Littell RC, Stroup WW, Freund RJ (2002) SAS for linear models. SAS Institute, Cary, p 466

    Google Scholar 

  • Mosier AR, Halvorson AD, Reule CA, Liu XJ (2006) Net global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity in irrigated crop** systems in northeastern Colorado. J Environ Qual 35:1584–1598

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ogle SM, Swan A, Paustian K (2005) No-till management impacts on crop productivity, carbon input and soil carbon sequestration. Agric Ecosyst Environ 149:37–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkin TB (2008) Effect of sampling frequency on estimates of cumulative nitrous oxide emissions. J Environ Qual 37:1390–1395

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pattey E, Trzcinski MK, Desjardins RL (2005) Quantifying the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as a result of composting dairy and beef cattle manure. Nutr Cycl Agroecosys 72:173–187

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paustian K, Lehmann J, Ogle S, Reay D, Robertson GP, Smith P (2016) Climate-smart soils. Nature 532:49–57

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson G, Halvorson AD, Havlin JL, Jones OR, Lyon DJ, Tanaka DL (1998) Reduced tillage and increasing crop** intensity in the Great Plains conserves soil C. Soil Tillage Res 47:207–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powlson D, Stirling CM, Jat ML, Gerard BG, Palm CA, Sanchez PA, Cassman KG (2014) Limited potential of no-till agriculture for climate change mitigation. Nat Clim Change 4:678–683

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reeves S, Wang W (2015) Optimum sampling time and frequency for measuring N2O emissions from a rain-fed cereal crop** system. Sci Total Environ 530:219–226

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson GP, Paul EA, Harwood RR (2000) Greenhouse gases in intensive agriculture: contributions of individual gases to the radiative forcing of the atmosphere. Science 289:1922–1925

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rochette P, Gregorich EG (1998) Dynamics of soil microbial biomass C, soluble organic C and CO2 evolution after three years of manure application. Can J Soil Sci 78:283–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rochette P, Janzen HH (2005) Towards a revised coefficient for estimating N2O emissions from legumes. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 73:171–179

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saenger A, Geisseler D, Ludwig B (2011) Effects of moisture and temperature on greenhouse gas emissions and C and N leaching losses in soil treated with biogas slurry. Biol Fertil Soil 47:249–259

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sainju UM, Stevens WB, Caesar-Tonthat T, Liebig MA (2012) Soil greenhouse gas emissions affected by irrigation, tillage, crop rotation, and nitrogen fertilization. J Environ Qual 41:1774–1786

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sherrod LA, Dunn G, Peterson GA, Kolberg RL (2002) Inorganic carbon analysis by modified pressure-calcimeter method. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:299–305

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Six J, Ogle SM, Breidt FJ, Conant RT, Mosier AR, Paustian K (2004) The potential to mitigate global warming with no-tillage management is only realized when practised in the long term. Glob Change Biol 10:155–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder CS, Bruulsema TW, Jensen TL, Fixen PE (2009) Review of greenhouse gas emissions from crop production systems and fertilizer management effects. Agric Ecosyst Environ 133:247–266

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Soil Survey Staff (2015) Web Soil Survey. http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov. Natural Resources Conservation. Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Accessed 27 Jan 2015

  • Thangarajan R, Bolan NS, Tian G, Naidu R, Kunhikrishnan A (2013) Role of organic amendment application on greenhouse gas emission from soil. Sci Total Environ 465:72–96

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thelen KD, Fronning BE, Kravchenko A, Min DH, Robertson GP (2010) Integrating livestock manure with a corn–soybean bioenergy crop** system improves short-term carbon sequestration rates and net global warming potential. Biomass Bioenergy 34:960–966

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas GW (1996) Soil pH and soil acidity. In: Sparks DL (ed) Methods of soil analysis Part 3: Chemical methods. ASA and SSSA, Madison, pp 475–490

    Google Scholar 

  • USDA-NRCS (2006) Land Resource Regions and Major land Resource Areas of the United States, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin. Agriculture Handbook 296. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington. http://soils.usda.gov/survey/geography/mlra/. Accessed 15 Feb 2015

  • USEPA (2015) U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report: 1990–2013. http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ ghgemissions/usinventoryreport.html. Assessed 8 Jan 2015

  • Weatherburn MW (1967) Phenol-hypochlorite reaction for determination of ammonia. Anal Chem 39:971–974

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • West TO, Marland G (2002) A synthesis of carbon sequestration, carbon emissions, and net carbon flux in agriculture: comparing tillage practices in the United States. Agric Ecosyst Environ 91:217–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West TO, Post WM (2002) Soil organic carbon sequestration rates by tillage and crop rotation: a global data analysis. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:1930–1946

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Western Regional Climate Center (2015) Historical climate information. Desert Research Institute, Reno. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/. Accessed 15 Feb 2015

Download references

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank Jenna Meeks and Pradeep Neupane for their assistance in field sampling and laboratory analyses; David Legg for help in statistical analyses and Hero Gollany for reviewing the earlier version of this manuscript. This project was supported by USDA NIFA Organic Transition Competitive Grant program (#2010-042-51106).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

    Rajan Ghimire & Jay B. Norton

  2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

    Urszula Norton, Prakriti Bista & Augustine K. Obour

  3. Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

    Urszula Norton

  4. Agricultural Science Center, New Mexico State University, Clovis, NM, USA

    Rajan Ghimire

  5. Agricultural Research Center-Hays, Kansas State University, Hays, KS, USA

    Augustine K. Obour

Authors
  1. Rajan Ghimire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Urszula Norton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Prakriti Bista
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Augustine K. Obour
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jay B. Norton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rajan Ghimire.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ghimire, R., Norton, U., Bista, P. et al. Soil organic matter, greenhouse gases and net global warming potential of irrigated conventional, reduced-tillage and organic crop** systems. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 107, 49–62 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-016-9811-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-016-9811-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation