Comparison of Carbon Sequestration Potential of Winter Cover Crop Cultivation in Rice Paddy Soil

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cultivation of winter cover crops is strongly recommended to increase land utilization efficiency, animal feeding material self-production, and to improve soil and environmental quality. METHODS AND RESULTS: Four major winter crops (barley, Chinese milk vetch, hairy vetch, and rye) having different C/N ratio were seeded in silt loam paddy soil in the November 2007 and the aboveground biomass was harvested on the late May 2008 to evaluate its effectiveness as green manure, and root biomass distribution was characterized at the different depth (0-60 cm) to study its effect on physical properties and carbon sequestration in soil. During this experiment, the naturally growing weed in the rice paddy soil in Korea, short awn foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis Sobol), was considered as control treatment.