Abstract
There is much interest in the role that agricultural practices might play in sequestering carbon to help offset rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, limited information exists regarding the potential for increased carbon sequestration of different management strategies. The objective of this study was to quantify and contrast carbon dioxide exchange in traditional non-mulching with flooding irrigation (TF) and plastic film mulching with drip irrigation (PM) cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fields in northwest China. Net primary productivity (NPP), soil heterotrophic respiration (R h) and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) were measured during the growing seasons in 2009 and 2010. As compared with TF, PM significantly increased the aboveground and belowground biomass and the NPP (340 g C m−2 season−1) of cotton, and decreased the R h (89 g C m−2 season−1) (p<0.05). In a growing season, PM had a higher carbon sequestration in terms of NEP of ∼ 429 g C m−2 season−1 than the TF. These results demonstrate that conversion of this type of land use to mulching practices is an effective way to increase carbon sequestration in the short term in cotton systems of arid areas.
Highlights
Management and policies to increase the carbon (C) sink of agricultural soils have gained more and more attention, and it can be accepted as one of the greatest potential methods to sequester C in terrestrial ecosystems [1,2]
Several studies have advanced the notion that changes in soil C stocks are associated with changes in crop management or in land use [1], there is still a lack of information regarding the potential C sequestration resulting from the conversion from traditional non-mulching cultivation to mulching cultivation [8]
Newer cultivation technologies incorporating mulching with plastic film together with drip irrigation (PM) have been shown to increase soil temperatures and conserve soil moisture [9,10], resulting in increased crop production
Summary
Management and policies to increase the carbon (C) sink of agricultural soils have gained more and more attention, and it can be accepted as one of the greatest potential methods to sequester C in terrestrial ecosystems [1,2]. PM cultivation is widely applied in China [11,12] with land areas of this type of cultivation reaching 1,000,000 ha in northwestern China in 2009 [13] It has replaced traditional cultivation (TF) involving flood irrigation with no mulching, which was the main cropping system used in dry land agriculture in northwest China before 1980 [12]. These large land use changes alter the soil microenvironment and have significant effects on the C balance of agro-ecosystems [1].
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