Exploring the Relationships between Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Yields, and Soil Properties in Cropping Systems

Abstract

Abstract:Relationships between greenhouse gas emissions, yields, and soil properties are not well known. Utilizing two datasets from long-term cropping systems in Illinois, USA, our we aim to address these knowledge gaps. The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between the physical and chemical properties and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of soil, and cash crop yields over a four-year time-period and following 15 years of treatment implementation in Illinois, USA. The experimental layout was a split-plot arrangement involving rotation and tillage treatments in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The studied crop rotations were continuous corn [Zea mays L.] (CCC), corn-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] (CS), continuous soybean (SSS), and corn-soybean-wheat [Triticum aestivum L.] (CSW), with each phase being present for every year. The tillage options were chisel tillage (T) and no-tillage (NT). We used an array of multivariate approaches to analyze both of our datasets that included 31 soil properties, GHG emissions (N 2 O, CO 2 , and CH 4 ) and cash crop yields. The results from our analyses indicate that N 2 O emissions are associated with a low soil pH, an increased Al concentration, the presence of soil nitrate throughout the growing season, an increase in plant available water (PAW) and an increased soil C concentration. Likewise, soil CO 2 respiration was correlated with low pH, elevated Al concentrations, low Ca, increased PAW, higher levels of microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and lower water aggregate stability (WAS). Emissions of CH 4 were associated with increased levels of MBC. Lastly, the yield index (YdI) was correlated with lower levels of soil Ca and available P and lower values of WAS. The association between high YdI and lower WAS can be attributed to tillage, as tillage lowers WAS, but increases yields in highly productive cropping systems in the Midwest.

Impacts of crop rotational diversity and grazing under integrated crop-livestock system on soil surface greenhouse gas fluxes

“…Comparing the effect of mono-cropping with crop rotation, continuous spring wheat resulted in greater cumulative N 2 O fluxes compared to spring wheat. Soil grown with continuous corn emitted higher N 2 O emission than soil grown with corn in rotation [30, 24]. Other soil parameters (like soil aggregates and enzyme activities) that affect GHG flux were not measured in this study.…”

“…According to Barton et al [23], wheat in rotation (lupin–wheat) has been found to emit similar soil N 2 O fluxes compared with continuous wheat after two years. Behnke et al [24] reported that corn emitted similar soil CO 2 fluxes from continuous corn, soybean-corn and soybean-wheat- corn rotation. Such discrepancies suggest that the response of GHG emissions to crop rotational diversity may vary with different crop diversity, climate and soil type.…”

Agronomic assessment of cover cropping and tillage practices across environments

“…The complete dataset associated to this manuscript is publicly available (Villamil & Nafziger, 2019). Additional examples of the use of multivariate techniques in agricultural studies are provided by Behnke, Pittelkow, Nafziger, and Villamil (2018); Hoss, Behnke, Davis, Nafziger, and Villamil (2018); Huang, Riggins, Rodriguez‐Zas, Zabaloy, and Villamil (2019), whereas Yeater and Villamil (2018) provide a roadmap to the use of multivariate procedures.…”

Prospects of Bioenergy Cropping Systems for A More Social-Ecologically Sound Bioeconomy

“…The resilient nature of perennial bioenergy crops renders them highly relevant for a growing bioeconomy. This is because an efficient use and low amount of N fertilizer is required to significantly reduce agricultural GHG emissions because it reduces the requirements for N fertilizer production, as well as emissions from the soil [91,[166][167][168][169][170].…”

“…Results showed that biomass productivity was not affected and that the soil-plant system retained over 90% of the pollutant load, resulting in wastewater depuration. Additionally, many bioenergy crops, especially perennial crops [166,167,187], require low or even no chemical plant protection measures at all [51,88,122]. Thus, bioenergy crop cultivation on marginal soils, when cultivated with the aid of soil ameliorating biogenic residues used as fertilizers, could contribute to more sustainable biomass production and C storage in the future.…”