Abstract
Global food demand requires that soils be used intensively for agriculture, but how these soils are managed greatly impacts soil fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2). Soil management practices can cause carbon to be either sequestered or emitted, with corresponding uncertain influence on atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The situation is further complicated by the lack of CO2 flux measurements for African subsistence farms. For widespread application in remote areas, a simple experimental methodology is desired. As a first step, the present study investigated the use of Bowen Ratio Energy Balance (BREB) instrumentation to measure the energy balance and CO2 fluxes of two contrasting crop management systems, till and no-till, in the lowlands within the mountains of Lesotho. Two BREB micrometeorological systems were established on 100-m by 100-m sites, both planted with maize (Zea mays) but under either conventional (plow, disk-disk) or no-till soil mangement systems. The results demonstrate that with careful maintenance of the instruments by appropriately trained local personnel, the BREB approach offers substantial benefits in measuring real time changes in agroecosystem CO2 flux. The periods where the two treatments could be compared indicated greater CO2 sequestration over the no-till treatments during both the growing and non-growing seasons.
Highlights
Some aspects of climate change arguments remain contentious, there is general scientific acceptance of the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that increases in atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses (GHGs) have contributed to increases in global temperatures and associated climate change
While most anthropogenic CO2 emissions result from fossil fuel combustion, the US Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) Task Force Report stated that agriculture produces 13.5 percent of GHG emissions world-wide [2]
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) supports this view, stating that agriculture has the potential to contribute to the mitigation and stabilization of the concentration of atmospheric GHGs by promoting the use of agricultural management practices that enhance C sequestration in soils while discouraging the use of agricultural practices that promote the emission of CO2 from soil to the atmosphere [6]
Summary
Some aspects of climate change arguments remain contentious, there is general scientific acceptance of the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that increases in atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses (GHGs) have contributed to increases in global temperatures and associated climate change. While most anthropogenic CO2 emissions result from fossil fuel combustion, the US Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) Task Force Report stated that agriculture produces 13.5 percent of GHG emissions world-wide [2]. According to Denef et al [3] CO2 emissions from agriculture in the US result primarily from practices that reduce the amount of organic carbon in the soil, e.g., fallow or intensive tillage. The CAST Task Force reports that modified agricultural practices could help reduce agricultural CO2 emissions. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) supports this view, stating that agriculture has the potential to contribute to the mitigation and stabilization of the concentration of atmospheric GHGs by promoting the use of agricultural management practices that enhance C sequestration in soils while discouraging the use of agricultural practices that promote the emission of CO2 from soil to the atmosphere [6]. At the same time, such practices would increase the amount of carbon in soils, to the benefit of plant growth
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