TY - JOUR
T1 - Land conversion from annual to perennial crops
T2 - A win-win strategy for biomass yield and soil organic carbon and total nitrogen sequestration
AU - Chen, Ji
AU - Lærke, Poul Erik
AU - Jørgensen, Uffe
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr Chen is granted by EU H2020 Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions (No. 839806), Aarhus University Research Foundation (AUFF-E-2019?7-1), Danish Independent Research Foundation (1127?00015B), and Nordic Committee of Agriculture and Food Research, Sweden.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/6/1
Y1 - 2022/6/1
N2 - How much can we increase biomass yield by promoting land conversion from annual to perennial crops? Will increased biomass extraction for biorefineries reduce soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) stock? Which cropping system is more stable for biomass production over time? To our knowledge, no study has concurrently investigated the effects of land conversion from annual to perennial crops on biomass yield, yield stability, and changes in SOC and TN stock, which limits the understanding and application of sustainable agroecosystems producing biomass for biorefineries. Based on five-year continuous observations in central Jutland Denmark, our results showed that perennial crops significantly increased biomass yield by 19% and yield stability by 88% compared to annual crops. Perennial crops significantly increased SOC content by 4% and SOC stock by 11% at 0–100 cm depth across the five years. The opposite responses of SOC content and stock under annual and perennial crops led to even more significant differences between the crop types. Perennial crops had no effect on soil TN content and increased soil TN stock to one meter depth by 22%, whereas continuous annual crops had no effect on it. Neither annual nor perennial crops had effects on SOC and TN stock when estimated based on equivalent soil mass because the soil density increased under perennial crops. Our results showed that changes in SOC and TN stock between annual and perennial crops varied with the specific calculating methods (fixed depth/equivalent mass), thus the selected methods should be clearly defined in the future research. Increases in SOC content at one meter depth were positively correlated with biomass yield and yield stability, suggesting a win-win strategy for climate mitigation and food security. Altogether, our results highlight the potential to redesign the current cropping system for sustainable intensification by selecting proper perennial crops for green biorefineries.
AB - How much can we increase biomass yield by promoting land conversion from annual to perennial crops? Will increased biomass extraction for biorefineries reduce soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) stock? Which cropping system is more stable for biomass production over time? To our knowledge, no study has concurrently investigated the effects of land conversion from annual to perennial crops on biomass yield, yield stability, and changes in SOC and TN stock, which limits the understanding and application of sustainable agroecosystems producing biomass for biorefineries. Based on five-year continuous observations in central Jutland Denmark, our results showed that perennial crops significantly increased biomass yield by 19% and yield stability by 88% compared to annual crops. Perennial crops significantly increased SOC content by 4% and SOC stock by 11% at 0–100 cm depth across the five years. The opposite responses of SOC content and stock under annual and perennial crops led to even more significant differences between the crop types. Perennial crops had no effect on soil TN content and increased soil TN stock to one meter depth by 22%, whereas continuous annual crops had no effect on it. Neither annual nor perennial crops had effects on SOC and TN stock when estimated based on equivalent soil mass because the soil density increased under perennial crops. Our results showed that changes in SOC and TN stock between annual and perennial crops varied with the specific calculating methods (fixed depth/equivalent mass), thus the selected methods should be clearly defined in the future research. Increases in SOC content at one meter depth were positively correlated with biomass yield and yield stability, suggesting a win-win strategy for climate mitigation and food security. Altogether, our results highlight the potential to redesign the current cropping system for sustainable intensification by selecting proper perennial crops for green biorefineries.
KW - Annual crop
KW - Biomass yield
KW - Perennial crop
KW - Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen stock
KW - Sustainable agroecosystem
KW - Yield stability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124414287&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agee.2022.107907
DO - 10.1016/j.agee.2022.107907
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85124414287
SN - 0167-8809
VL - 330
JO - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
JF - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
M1 - 107907
ER -