Carbon saving agricultural technologies and mitigation of the greenhouse

Abstract

The paper generalizes and analysis the data of soil organic carbon (SOC) amount in agricultural land on the example of the field studies carried out in 2013–2016 on the area of the Upper Volga Federal Agrarian Research Centre on the gray forest soils. The purpose of the study was to determine the stocks and the losses SOC in the agricultural land; to evaluate the factors reducing SOC in the arable soils and to show the ways to maintain and to increase the soil organic carbon; to study the influence of the technological factors on the balance of organic carbon in gray forest soils. Authors consider the transition to carbon-saving technologies of arable soils in Russia can restore almost 2.2 Gt C of the SOC and can play a significant role in the reducing of the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. This SOC value can be a significant additional reserve for achieving Russia’s commitments on mitigating climate change. The result of the field experiment showed the most effective approach is the choice of agricultural crops, as the perennial grasses using the manure as an organic fertilizer and the use of resource-saving non-moldboard tillage methods.