Abstract
The agricultural sector has potential to provide greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation by sequestering soil organic carbon (SOC). Replacing cropland with permanent pasture is one practice promoted for its potential to sequester soil carbon. However, pastures frequently support livestock, which produce other GHG emissions that could negate the abatement from increased SOC, especially given the declining rate of SOC sequestration through time. Our purpose was to determine whether the abatement provided by SOC storage in permanent pastures was offset by livestock emissions, and to thus compare emissions from grazed pasture systems with those from cropping systems. We investigated this question for three case study farms in locations with contrasting climate, soils and management representative of Australian cropping and livestock systems. Three cropping scenarios were defined that had increasing amounts of SOC inputs: Cropburn, crop residues burned before sowing (lowest SOC input); Cropstubble, crop residues retained; and Cropintensity, uncropped fallow phases replaced with short-term green manure legume crops. The on-farm GHG emissions profiles of these cropping scenarios were compared with those from two livestock scenarios utilizing continuous stocking: Livestockgrass, stocked permanent grass pasture; and Livestocklegume, stocked permanent legume pasture; the latter having higher SOC input than the former. Crop yields, pasture growth rates and emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from the soil were simulated with the APSIM farming systems model. Livestock emissions were predicted using Australian GHG accounting emission factors. For the farms in this study, the SOC sequestered in the stocked permanent pastures was offset by emissions from livestock, and emissions from cropping scenarios were similar to or significantly less than those from the livestock scenarios. These findings: (1) demonstrate the importance of using net GHG abatement potentials from combined emissions rather than a single GHG abatement process when evaluating potential abatement practices, and (2) question the potential for GHG mitigation through the agricultural sector because climate and soil characteristics in different locations can alter the abatement potential of management practices, and because change in management practice can have feedbacks on other management practices and hence on GHG abatement potential.
Highlights
The “Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU)” economic sector emits 24.8% of global greenhouse gases (GHGs), including 0.5 Gt carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) yr−1 from enteric fermentation and 1.2 Gt CO2 equivalents (CO2e) yr−1 from agricultural soils (Smith et al, 2014)
There was potential at Chinchilla for high pasture growth rates of two to three times the median growth rate to occur, but this high production potential and high variability in growth was consistent with field experimental values reported by Lloyd (1974)
The long-term average soil organic carbon (SOC) was not significantly different for some cropping and livestock scenarios at the Chinchilla and Southern Mallee case studies (Figures 7A–C), and so neither scenario would provide an advantage for GHG emissions reductions unless either the N2O could be reduced in the cropping scenario or CH4 emissions in the livestock scenario
Summary
The “Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU)” economic sector emits 24.8% of global greenhouse gases (GHGs), including 0.5 Gt carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) yr−1 from enteric fermentation and 1.2 Gt CO2e yr−1 from agricultural soils (Smith et al, 2014). The principal emissions from agricultural practices consist of (1) carbon dioxide (CO2) from decomposition of soil organic carbon (SOC), (2) methane (CH4) from enteric fermentation, and (3) nitrous oxide (N2O) from synthetic fertilizer and manure [DEE (Department of the Environment and Energy), 2014, 2016; Smith et al, 2014]. Agricultural GHG emissions from changes in SOC stocks, N2O, and CH4 are highly variable across environments and management practices (e.g., Hillier et al, 2012; Sainju, 2016). The potential for changes in both SOC stocks and N2O emissions are influenced by rainfall, temperature, management practices, and soil properties. The diversity of factors that influence emissions of individual GHGs can make it difficult to identify practices that deliver overall mitigation
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have