Soil carbon sequestration rates under Mediterranean woody crops using recommended management practices: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Revision Notes "Eq. 4. I recommend to replace k with j. K could result in misunderstanding (it could be mixed up with a rate constant)" We totally agree with this comment of the reviewer. Therefore, it has been changed. L. 371-372 of the new version. Please present in a new table the mean temperature and rainfall for each sub-climate regions used in the study. We acknowledge the comment of the reviewer. We decided to not to include a table with values of temperature and precipitations due to the high complexity of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. As it is shown in the figures below (Kottek et al., 2006), each climate is defined by three letters. Second letter corresponds to precipitations and the third one to the air temperature conditions. We considered that include all this information in a table would not be so much helpful to the paper and, for that reason we decided to include only the full name of each climate (e.g. Csa (Warm temperate, dry summer, hot summer)) and referring the table to this paper of Kottek et al., 2006. Highlights  Effects of RMPs on SOC in woody crops were assessed using literature data  Average SOC sequestration rate for all RMPs was 3.8 t C ha-1 yr-1.  C sequestration rates in olive orchard ranged 1.1 (CC) to 5.3 (OA) t C ha-1 yr-1.  C sequestration rate in vineyards was 0.78 t C ha-1 yr-1 in CC management.  C sequestration rates were highest during the first years of the RMPs *Highlights (for review)

Long-term organic farming on a citrus plantation results in soil organic carbon recovery

“…5). The same C sequestration rates were found in Mediterranean environments after the conversion from conventional to alternative soil management using cover cropping residues: for instance, in a meta-analysis (16 studies) Vicente-Vicente et al (2016) found average values of C sequestration of 0.78 Mg ha -1 y -1 after the conversion of orchard from conventional to cover crop soil management. In a meta-analysis (74 studies), Gattinger et al (2012) found, on average, a C gain of 0.45 ± 0.21 Mg C ha −1 y −1 for organic treatments in comparison to conventional management.…”

Diversified Arable Cropping Systems and Management Schemes in Selected European Regions Have Positive Effects on Soil Organic Carbon Content

“…Data are represented by box and whisker plots (central point means, and 95% confidence interval CI) following the method reported in previous data-analyses [25,81]. Responses were considered significantly different if their 95% CIs did not overlap, and significantly different from the controls if the 95% CIs did not overlap with zero [19,20,82]. Furthermore, correlation statistics for SOC content changes were performed based on a non-parametric Spearman rank analysis [22,25] including 26, 22, and 23 qualitative and quantitative predictors derived from the data-set for tillage management, crop diversification, and fertilization management respectively (Table S1).…”

Soil Carbon Sequestration through Agronomic Management Practices

“…Similarly, green manuring increases the biomass returned to the soil, which results in the form of enlarged soil carbon sink. Studies reveal that the adoption of cover crops is an efficient measure to mitigate climate change [82]. According to Olson 2010 [83], the use of cover crops in intensive row crop rotations with different tillage treatments has been found to sequester soil organic carbon (SOC).…”