Abstract
Phosphorus retention and bank erosion was investigated in two types of buffer zones in cereal fields in Norway: zones used for grass production and zones with natural vegetation. Farmers’ views on the two types of buffer zones were collected through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Our results indicate that the grassed buffer zones had higher levels of plant-available phosphorus and lower infiltration rates than the natural ones. Bank erosion was higher in zones with grass production than those with trees. Interviews with farmers revealed diverging opinions on the zones. Most farmers were sceptical to natural vegetation with trees, whereas farmers who had already planted trees in the riparian zones were generally satisfied. Buffer zones can have many different functions, and we conclude that a holistic approach is needed when assessing the usefulness of this measure, taking into account water quality, biodiversity and the production of food, fodder and biomass.
Highlights
Buffer zones (BZs) are much-used mitigation measures in agricultural lands, and are most commonly designed to retain inputs of nutrients and particles from adjacent fields (e.g. Roberts et al 2012; Stutter et al 2019)
The soil in these areas is often fertile since repeated floods have left behind fine-grained river sediments, and the land can be valuable for the production of biomass for food, fodder, fuel, energy or materials. ‘‘The green shift’’ is a common expression used to describe the change from a world economy based on fossil fuel to a bioeconomy, and it is expected that the need for biomass will increase (Hertel et al 2012; O’Brien et al 2017; Eyvindson et al 2018)
Plant-available P concentrations were comparable in the soils of the GBZs and the cereal fields, but lower in the NBZs
Summary
Buffer zones (BZs) are much-used mitigation measures in agricultural lands, and are most commonly designed to retain inputs of nutrients and particles from adjacent fields (e.g. Roberts et al 2012; Stutter et al 2019). Roberts et al 2012; Stutter et al 2019) Vegetation in these zones can serve other functions, such as protection against bank erosion, production of biomass, or provision of habitats for plants and animals (Degerman et al 2004; Trimble 2004; Dal Ferro et al 2019). The vegetation in BZs can consist of grass for fodder production, or be natural vegetation with herbs, weeds, bushes and trees. The soil in these areas is often fertile since repeated floods have left behind fine-grained river sediments, and the land can be valuable for the production of biomass for food, fodder, fuel, energy or materials. BZs may become increasingly important to reduce the pressure on water quality, but they may be threatened, since this fertile land is valuable to farmers and land owners
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