Greenhouse gas footprint of replacing nutrients lost through soil erosion due to root and tuber crops harvesting

Abstract

Soil loss due to root crop harvesting (SLCH) is an important component of total soil erosion that threatens sustainable agriculture. Globally, it ranges from 1.81 to 4.55 Mg ha-1 per harvest. I assessed greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of producing fertilizer to replace nutrients lost with soil due to potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), carrot (Daucus carota L.), and celery (Apium graveolens L.) harvesting in the Izmir-Odemis town, Konya province and Sakarya-Geyve town in Turkey. Production of mineral fertilizers contributes to the global GHG emissions. About 40x10 3 Mg of soil per year was lost annually through potato, carrot and celery harvest from the study region, which resulted in 32.93 Mg of N, 3.21 Mg of P2O5, and 7.69 Mg of K2O losses per year. The fertilizer production to replace the nutrients lost releases about 270 Mg CO2 per year. The large nutrient losses and GHG emissions warrant consideration of soil management practices to reduce SLCH.