Renovation and conversion of permanent grass-clover swards to pasture or crops: Effects on annual N 2 O emissions in the year after ploughing

Reinsch, Thorsten; Loges, Ralf; Kluß, Christof; Taube, F.

doi:10.1016/j.still.2017.08.009

Cited by 49 publications

(46 citation statements)

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“…Besides an economic impact, grassland renewal has an environmental impact. Many studies show an increased emission of the greenhouse gasses N 2 O and CO 2 and leaching of nitrogen after ploughing grassland [8,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62]. Our study confirms that when grasslands contain at least 70% desirable grasses (i.e., Lolium perenne and Phleum pratense), long-term grass productivity does not increase and the NY N0 even decreases as a result of grassland renewal.…”

Section: Practical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 80%

Productivity and Topsoil Quality of Young and Old Permanent Grassland: An On-Farm Comparison

et al. 2020

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Renewing agricultural grasslands for improved yields and forage quality generally involves eliminating standing vegetation with herbicides, ploughing and reseeding. However, grassland renewal may negatively affect soil quality and related ecosystem services. On clay soil in the north of the Netherlands, we measured grass productivity and soil chemical parameters of ‘young’ (5–15 years since last grassland renewal) and ‘old’ (>20 years since last grassland renewal) permanent grasslands, located as pairs at 10 different dairy farms. We found no significant difference with old permanent grassland in herbage dry matter yield and fertilizer nitrogen (N) response, whereas herbage N yield was lower in young permanent grassland. Moreover, the young grassland soil contained less soil organic matter (SOM), soil organic carbon (C) and soil organic N compared to the old grassland soil. Grass productivity was positively correlated with SOM and related parameters such as soil organic C, soil organic N and potentially mineralizable N. We conclude that on clay soils with 70% desirable grasses (i.e., Lolium perenne and Phleum pratense) or more, the presumed yield benefit of grassland renewal is offset by a loss of soil quality (SOM and N-total). The current practice of renewing grassland after 10 years without considering the botanical composition, is counter-productive and not sustainable.

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Section: Practical Implicationssupporting

confidence: 80%

Productivity and Topsoil Quality of Young and Old Permanent Grassland: An On-Farm Comparison

et al. 2020

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“…+ and NO 3 − ) (Table 2), stimulating nitrification and denitrification and thus N 2 O production (Grandy & Robertson, 2006a;Piva et al, 2012;Reinsch, Loges, Kluß, & Taube, 2018). In Year 2 we found fewer differences in N 2 O emissions between CT and NT, consistent with long-cultivated soils (Gelfand, Shcherbak, Millar, Kravchenko, & Robertson, 2016;Huang et al, 2018;Mei et al, 2018;van Kessel et al, 2013).…”

Section: Nitrous Oxide Fluxessupporting

confidence: 62%

No‐till establishment improves the climate benefit of bioenergy crops on marginal grasslands

Ruan

Robertson

2020

Soil Science Soc of Amer J

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Expanding biofuel production is expected to accelerate the conversion of unmanaged marginal lands to meet biomass feedstock needs. Greenhouse gas production during conversion jeopardizes the ensuing climate benefits, but most research to date has focused only on conversion to annual crops and only following tillage. Here we report the global warming impact of converting USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands to three types of bioenergy crops using no‐till (NT) vs. conventional tillage (CT). We established replicated NT and CT plots in three CRP fields planted to continuous corn, switchgrass, or restored prairie. For the 2 yr following an initial soybean year in all fields, we found that, on average, NT conversion reduced nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions by 50% and CO2 emissions by 20% compared with CT conversion. Differences were higher in Year 1 than in Year 2 in the continuous corn field, and in the two perennial systems the differences disappeared after Year 1. In all fields net CO2 emissions (as measured by eddy covariance) were positive for the first 2 yr following CT establishment, but following NT establishment net CO2 emissions were close to zero or negative, indicating net C sequestration. Overall, NT improved the global warming impact of biofuel crop establishment following CRP conversion by over 20‐fold compared with CT (−6.01 Mg CO2e ha−1 yr−1 for NT vs. −0.25 Mg CO2e ha−1 yr−1 for CT, on average). We also found that Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates of N2O emissions (as measured by static chambers) greatly underestimated actual emissions for converted fields regardless of tillage. Policies should encourage adoption of NT for converting marginal grasslands to perennial bioenergy crops to reduce C debt and maximize climate benefits.

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“…They found that freeze–thaw cycles were the major driver of increased N 2 O emissions of 21 kg N 2 O ha −1 year −1 after renovation in autumn while emissions following grassland ploughing and reseeding in spring were much smaller (up to 3.9 kg N 2 O ha −1 ) and mainly driven by high soil mineral N concentrations. Despite the presence of a higher proportion of sown cultivars of productive grass species, the total biomass yield of renovated swards did not exceed those of intact grass‐clover swards in the first production year (Reinsch et al., ). Studies measuring the NO 3 leaching losses by suction cups or using lysimeters determined N losses of 35–72 kg N ha −1 over the first winter following grassland renovation (Seidel et al., ; Shepherd, Hatch, Jarvis, & Bhogal, ).…”

Section: Renovation and Emission Risksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grassland renovation has important consequences for C and N cycling and losses

Kayser

Müller

Isselstein

2018

Food and Energy Security

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Sward degradation is a serious threat to the functioning of agricultural grassland and the provision of ecosystem services. Renovation measures are frequently applied to restore degraded swards. The success is highly variable, and substantial trade-offs can be related to the process of renovation. This paper starts with a general classification of renovation measures and then investigates the processes that are directly related to renovation and lead to a change in botanical composition and affect soil functions and C and N fluxes. These processes are strongly interrelated and dependent on site, climate, and management condition as well as on the timescale. The more an existing and degraded sward is deliberately disturbed prior to a renovation measure, for example, by ploughing, the stronger will be the change in sward composition, and the stronger will be the potential yield and quality advantage. However, the risk of a release of soil organic C and N emissions to the environment will also increase. These emissions will usually decrease in time, but so will the positive effects on sward composition. This demonstrates that the renovation of swards is normally the second best solution and a proper and well-adapted grassland utilization and management should be adopted to avoid degradation in the first place. K E Y W O R D Scarbon, nitrogen, reseeding, sward improvement, vegetation

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Renovation and conversion of permanent grass-clover swards to pasture or crops: Effects on annual N 2 O emissions in the year after ploughing

Cited by 49 publications

References 50 publications

Productivity and Topsoil Quality of Young and Old Permanent Grassland: An On-Farm Comparison

Productivity and Topsoil Quality of Young and Old Permanent Grassland: An On-Farm Comparison

No‐till establishment improves the climate benefit of bioenergy crops on marginal grasslands

Grassland renovation has important consequences for C and N cycling and losses

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