Management Effects on Soil Organic Carbon Stock in Mediterranean Open Rangelands—Treeless Grasslands

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is subject to relatively rapid changes. In grasslands soils, the management system influences these changes. Therefore, these soils play a crucial role in climate change mitigation. Current research has developed strategies and methodologies to help us understand their role as a carbon sink. In this study, the SOC and total nitrogen contents and stocks (SOC‐S) and their variation with depth were evaluated in annual crop rotations (cereal–fallow). Fifty soil profiles were sampled in the Los Pedroches Valley (southern Spain). This area consists of Mediterranean open rangelands—treeless grasslands with cereal–fallow rotation, under two management systems: long‐term (20 years) organic farming (OF) and conventional tillage (CT). The studied soils were Cambisols (CM), Leptosols (LP) and Luvisols (LV). The objective of this research was to determine any management system effects (OF vs CT) on SOC and total nitrogen contents and stocks and their variation with profile depth. It was observed that SOC concentration decreased with depth (Ah–Ap > Bw > C). The SOC concentration was higher in the top soil for all studied soils in OF compared with CT. The highest totals of SOC‐S were found in LV‐OF (66·01 Mg ha−1) and the lowest in LP‐CT (21·33 Mg ha−1). Significant differences (p < 0·05) between soils types and management practices were found in carbon stocks, increasing the SOC‐S in OF compared with that in CT in all studied soils; this increase was 75·25%, 85·73% and 234·88% for CM, LV and LP, respectively. The results indicated that management practices significantly influence SOC‐S in the Los Pedroches Valley and, consequently, OF in annual crop rotations (cereal–fallow) is an excellent alternative to CT that increases the SOC content in Mediterranean open rangelands—treeless grasslands environments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tillage System Affects Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Quality in Central Morocco

“…This is the mediated aggregation process by carbon accumulation as explained by Six et al [59]. Many authors reported that soils with high clay content tend to have higher SOC than soils with low clay content under similar land use and climate conditions [27,60].…”

Conventional tillage versus organic farming in relation to soil organic carbon stock in olive groves in Mediterranean rangelands (southern Spain)

“…An important feature of these soils is the low OM content (González and Candás, 2004). This is justified by climatic conditions (semi-arid Mediterranean) and soil texture (sandy soils), which contribute to a low organic matter content , 2014b. With respect to CMs, RGs and LPs, these soils are characterised by low fertility, poor physical conditions and a marginal capacity for agricultural uses.…”

“…In Mediterranean areas, the elements that affect soil carbon (C) variability are mainly climate (Wang et al, 2010), land use (Lozano-García and Parras-Alcántara, 2013b), management , 2014a, slope and altitude (Hontoria et al, 2004;Lozano-García and ParrasAlcántara, 2014), tillage intensity and no-till duration (Conant et al, 2007). Of all these factors, soil management is the best tool for climate change mitigation and adaptation (Lal et al, 2011).…”

Effect of greenhouse soil management on soil aggregation and organic matter in northeast China

“…Increasing C sequestration in agricultural soils and setting the soil as a net sink for atmospheric C can be achieved by adopting optimal management practices (Debasish-Saha et al, 2014;Oliveira et al, 2013;Parras-Alcántara et al, 2014). For example, tillage is a strategy Catena 133 (2015) …”