Abstract
Short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) provide sustainable, renewable biomass energy and offer potential ecosystem services, including increased carbon storage, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and improved soil health. Establishing SRWCs on degraded lands has potential to enhance soil properties through root and organic matter turnover. A better understanding of SRWC planting density and its associated root turnover impacts on soil–air–water relations can improve management. In this study, we investigate the effects of planting density for a low-input American sycamore SRWC (no fertilization/irrigation) on soil physical properties for a degraded agricultural site in the North Carolina piedmont. The objectives were (1) to estimate the distributions of coarse and fine root biomass in three planting densities (10,000, 5000, and 2500 trees per hectare (tph)) and (2) to assess the effects of planting density on soil hydraulic properties and pore size distribution. Our results show that planting at 10,000 tph produced significantly higher amounts of fine root biomass than at lower planting densities (p < 0.01). In the 25,000 tph plots, there was significantly higher amounts of coarse root biomass than for higher planting densities (p < 0.05). The 10,000 tph plots had lower plant available water capacity but larger drainable porosity and saturated hydraulic conductivity compared with lower planting densities (<0.05). The 10,000 tph plots total porosity was more dominated by larger pore size fractions compared with the 5000 and 2500 tph. Generally, our findings show similar patterns of soil hydraulic properties and pore size distributions for lower planting densities. The results from 10,000 tph indicate a higher air-filled pore space at field capacity and more rapid drainage compared with lower planting densities. Both characteristics observed in the 10,000 tph are favorable for aeration and oxygen uptake, which are especially important at wet sites. Overall, the results suggest that improved soil health can be achieved from the establishment of American sycamore SRCs on marginal lands, thereby providing a green pathway to achieving environmental sustainability with woody renewable energy.
Highlights
Using the variance propagation technique, our result showed that the contributions of coarse roots to the total root biomass were 65%, 67%, and 63% for the 10,000 tph, 5000 tph, and 2500 tph, respectively
The contribution of fine root biomass to the total root biomass was lower than coarse roots, with only 34%, 33%, and 37% for 10,000 tph, 5000 tph, and 2500 tph, respectively (Figure 2)
The 10,000 tph planting density showed significant differences in soil water and air properties compared with the other treatments, such as having the lowest plant available water, highest saturated hydraulic conductivity, and highest drainable porosity
Summary
Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living system by recognizing that it contains biological elements that are key to ecosystem function within land-use boundaries [2,3,4]. Soil can act as a buffer for hydrologic and biogeochemical processes to reduce the impacts of the ever-changing weather variability and limited water availability due to global climate change [5]. This requires in-depth understanding of the effects of land-use management systems on soil health to meet the needs for food production and ecosystem services in the face of the threats of global climate change [6]
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