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Soil and Crop Management Effects on Soil Carbon Sequestration

Author

Frank Hons,
Texas A&M University

Executive Summary 
Long-term field studies are being used to determine the effects of tillage, rotation, and nitogen management on soil carbon and nitrogen pools and turnover.



Texas A&M researchers are contributing to CASMGS Task 2 by:
  1. determining long-term management effects on soil organic carbon sequestration and turnover in cropping systems,
  2. quantifying chemical and physical characteristics of soil organic carbon that determine turnover rates and sequestration, and
  3. quantifying the influence of soil organic carbon sequestration as altered by management practices on soil N cycling and availability.
Soil organic carbon pool sizes and mean residence times as influenced by tillage, rotation, N fertilization, duration of cropping, etc will be quantified by exponential decay models using soil organic carbon mineralization from long-term incubations and acid hydrolysis techniques.
  • Long-term field studies (10 to >20 years) utilizing these management factors will be sampled to achieve objective 1.
  • Relationships between soil structure and organic carbon turnover will be assessed in objective 2 using organic matter and aggregate fractionation techniques (size and density; internal and external surfaces) in conjunction with incubation methods.
  • Long-term management studies will also be used for this research.
  • Active fractions of soil organic matter, including soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and mineralizable carbon, will be related to net soil nitrogen mineralization and fertilizer nitrogen requirements of cropping systems in objective 3.
  • d13C analyses will be used to identify the sources of carbon in various soil organic carbon and aggregate fractions.
Similar research to the above is also being completed in soils sampled under perennial grasses and cultivated cropping systems in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

We are cooperating with Dr. Tom Boutton in Rangeland Ecology and Management on the effects of grazing and fire management on similar soil carbon attributes in native rangeland systems. 		 

     
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No-tillage can enhance soil carbon sequestration.
     

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