Optimisation of French Energy Cover Crop Production in Double Cropping Systems for On-farm Biogas Use

Marsac, Sylvain; Quod, C.; Leveau, Valerie; Heredia, Marco; Delaye, N.; Labalette, Françoise; Lecomte, Vincent; Bazet, M.; Sanner, E.A.

doi:10.5071/27theubce2019-1ao.4.5

Cited by 3 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Contrary to digestates from livestock effluents or dedicated crops, which are rather well known (e.g., Nkoa (2014), Möller and Müller (2012)), information on the digestates of cover crops is still rather scarce. To our knowledge, except for the chemical composition of two digestates reported by Marsac et al (2019), there are no published results on the digestates of cover crops from real anaerobic plants. This lack of information prevents an adequate assessment of their agronomic and economic values in relation to the potential savings on mineral fertilizer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…To increase renewable energy production, the production of cover crops for anaerobic digestion is promoted in various countries (Marsac et al 2019;Riau et al 2021;Szerencsits et al 2016). For example, the French agency for ecological transition published a prospective study about the complete substitution of fossil gas by renewable gas, which included the generalization of the use of cover crops for biogas production (with 50 10 6 Mg of dry matter harvested per year) (Ademe 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High Nitrogen Availability but Limited Potential Carbon Storage in Anaerobic Digestates from Cover Crops

Levavasseur

Roux²,

Kouakou

et al. 2022

J Soil Sci Plant Nutr

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Cover crops are increasingly used for biogas production, a renewable energy source, without competing for food production. The behavior of the resulting digestates after soil application is poorly understood, which prevents their efficient recycling in agriculture and the environmental assessment of their application. The objective of this study was to quantify the nitrogen availability and potential carbon storage of cover crop-issued digestates after soil application. A total of 10 raw digestates, 2 liquid phases, and 3 solid phases after phase separation were sampled. Main cover crops used in the sampled biogas plants were winter barley, rye, and maize. Classical physicochemical analyses and laboratory incubations to study their C and N mineralization were conducted. Despite a moderate C mineralization of raw and liquid digestates after 91 days, their initial limited carbon content induced, in the end, a low contribution to soil organic carbon (13 and 11 kg remaining C Mg −1 FM, respectively), similar to a pig slurry and much lower than a bovine manure. With a higher initial carbon content and lower C mineralization, the contribution of solid digestates to carbon storage could be higher if applied at a sufficient rate. Organic N mineralization of raw and liquid digestates was moderate, but their N availability was high (3 and 4 kg available N Mg −1 FM, respectively), thanks to their mineral nitrogen contents, similar again to a pig slurry. In contrast, that of solid digestate was almost null with a very low mineral N content and no organic N mineralization. Finally, all the digestates also brought significant amounts of P and K.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Nitrogen Availability but Limited Potential Carbon Storage in Anaerobic Digestates from Cover Crops

Levavasseur

Roux²,

Kouakou

et al. 2022

J Soil Sci Plant Nutr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Except for the insertion of energy cover crops and the application of digestate, no modification of the cropping system was considered in the AD scenario. However, as suggested by some authors (Graß et al, 2013;Marsac et al, 2019), a possible yield decrease of the primary crop following a winter energy cover crop was considered in response to decreased water and mineral N reserves and a shorter cultivation period (Section 2.5). For each ton per hectare of winter energy cover crop higher than 5 t DM ha −1 , we considered an additional 4% yield loss of the following primary crop.…”

Section: Definition Of Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to cover crop yields and the return of digestate to soil, the HI and the SRR of cover crops were key parameters to explain SOC storage in our study. The HI can be measured relatively easily (e.g., Marsac et al, 2019); the uncertainty in its value could, thus, be limited in the future. SRR is more difficult to estimate, and only a few measures exist regarding energy cover crops.…”

Section: Uncertainty In Soc Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Energy cover crops for biogas production increase soil organic carbon stocks: A modeling approach

et al. 2022

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Energy cover crops for biogas production through anaerobic digestion (AD) are inserted between two primary crops. They replace either bare soil or nonharvested cover crops, and their management is usually intensified to produce more biomass. They allow the production of renewable energy as well as digestate, used as an organic fertilizer, without directly competing with food production. Because of the increased biomass production and export and of the return of a digested biomass to the soil, the impact of energy cover crops on soil organic carbon (SOC) is questioned. The objective of this paper was to study the difference in SOC stocks induced by the introduction of energy cover crops for AD coupled with the application of the resulting amount of digestate. We used the AD model Sys-Metha combined with the soil C model AMG to simulate SOC stocks for 13 case studies in France, with scenarios comparing different intercrop management practices, with or without cover crops, harvested or not. Our results indicated that the higher biomass production of energy cover crops (from 6.7 to 11.1 t DM ha −1 ) in comparison with nonharvested cover crops (2 t DM ha −1 ) or bare soil led to higher humified C input (belowground input and digestate), despite the high C fraction exported in AD. This resulted in an increase in SOC stocks in comparison with nonharvested cover crops or bare soil (from 0.01 to 0.12 t C ha −1 year −1 over 30 years). The uncertainties in the model parameters did not modify these results. However, in the case of equal biomass production between energy cover crops and nonharvested cover crops, SOC stocks would be lower with energy cover crops.

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“…En dépit de leur intérêt en termes d'approvisionnement, le coût de production de ces ressources était élevé, mais leur intérêt environnemental confirmé. Le projet Opticive a permis d'améliorer les connaissances sur la conduite de ces séquences de culture (Marsac et al, 2019) et d'en préciser l'évaluation dans un contexte politique et réglementaire différent (complément de prix de rachat de l'énergie avec la valorisation de CIVE). Ces références permettent d'améliorer les évaluations technico-économiques et environnementales de ces successions.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Les cultures intermédiaires à vocation énergétique : de l’évaluation technico-économique et environnementale à la construction des axes de travail régionalisés pour favoriser leur développement

Marsac¹

2020

AE&S

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La valorisation des cultures intermédiaires pour l'énergie (CIVE) est une opportunité fréquemment mise en avant dans les scénarii de transition énergétique et agroécologique. Les références acquises au cours du programme OPTICIVE ont permis d'évaluer techniquement, économiquement et environnementalement ces nouvelles ressources dans différents scénarios. Malgré une production variable et coûteuse de ces CIVE dans des systèmes de 3 cultures en 2 ans, leur valorisation permet d'ajouter des fonctions économiques et environnementales aux couverts d'interculture, améliorant de nombreux indicateurs des exploitations (efficience énergétiques, GES). L'analyse conjointe de ces résultats avec les acteurs de la filière a permis d'identifier différents axes de travail dans de grands bassins de production pour améliorer les connaissances et l'intérêt de ces ressources.

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Optimisation of French Energy Cover Crop Production in Double Cropping Systems for On-farm Biogas Use

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

High Nitrogen Availability but Limited Potential Carbon Storage in Anaerobic Digestates from Cover Crops

High Nitrogen Availability but Limited Potential Carbon Storage in Anaerobic Digestates from Cover Crops

Energy cover crops for biogas production increase soil organic carbon stocks: A modeling approach

Les cultures intermédiaires à vocation énergétique : de l’évaluation technico-économique et environnementale à la construction des axes de travail régionalisés pour favoriser leur développement

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