Assessment of Benefits of Conservation Agriculture on Soil Functions in Arable Production Systems in Europe

Bhim Ghaley,Mark Liebig,Giovanna Visioli,Tamas Szegi,Cristina Menta,Isabelle Gattin,Heide Spiegel,Taru Sandén,Teodor Rusu,Dirk Vrebos,Horia Cacovean,Erika Michéli,Lilian O’Sullivan,Christian Henriksen,Antonio Delgado

doi:10.3390/su10030794

Abstract

Conventional farming (CONV) is the norm in European farming, causing adverse effects on some of the five major soil functions, viz. primary productivity, carbon sequestration and regulation, nutrient cycling and provision, water regulation and purification, and habitat for functional and intrinsic biodiversity. Conservation agriculture (CA) is an alternative to enhance soil functions. However, there is no analysis of CA benefits on the five soil functions as most studies addressed individual soil functions. The objective was to compare effects of CA and CONV practices on the five soil functions in four major environmental zones (Atlantic North, Pannonian, Continental and Mediterranean North) in Europe by applying expert scoring based on synthesis of existing literature. In each environmental zone, a team of experts scored the five soil functions due to CA and CONV treatments and median scores indicated the overall effects on five soil functions. Across the environmental zones, CONV had overall negative effects on soil functions with a median score of 0.50 whereas CA had overall positive effects with median score ranging from 0.80 to 0.83. The study proposes the need for field-based investigations, policies and subsidy support to benefit from CA adoption to enhance the five soil functions.

Highlights

Soil is vital for the provision of soil-based ecosystem services that are essential for human wellbeing
In the Atlantic North environmental zone, soil functions were affected in both directions viz. positively and negatively by application of Conventional farming (CONV) practices whereas only positive effects were recorded due to Conservation agriculture (CA) (Table 3)
No-tillage had the highest positive effects on four soil functions followed by crop rotation with highest positive effects on two soil functions (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

Soil is vital for the provision of soil-based ecosystem services that are essential for human wellbeing These soil-based ecosystem services are the outcomes of the complex interplay of soil properties, environment, land use management and their interactions [1,2,3] of which five key soil functions are identified; (a) primary productivity; (b) water regulation and purification; (c) carbon sequestration and regulation; (d) habitat for functional and intrinsic biodiversity; and (e) nutrient cycling and provision [4]. These five soil functions contribute to agricultural productivity, as well as the provision of other regulating and supporting ecosystem services. This study builds upon earlier reviews [7,8] and assesses the five soil functions concurrently and the optimization of same, so that one soil function is not maximized at the cost of other soil functions

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion