Soil organic mater management – a decisive measure in climate change mitigation and adaptation

Abstract

Global warming requires the implementation of both immediate and long-term mitigation and adaptation measures in agriculture, which is affected by greenhouse gas emissions through the use of practices from the industrial model arsenal of agricultural intensification (oversaturation of planting areas with arable crops and lack of crop rotations with a greater diversity of arable and successive crops; excessive tillage; irrigation; application of mineral fertilizers, especially nitrogen etc.). Data from the long-term field experiments at Research Institute of Field Crops ”Selecția” (Bălți, Republic of Moldova) are proving the dominance of mineralization over humification of soil organic matter with the emissions of CO2 and oxides of nitrogen in the atmosphere. Chernozem soils have a high potential for carbon sequestration and consequently for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Sustainable and resilient management of soil organic matter is one of the key issues for the transition to a more sustainable agriculture, capable to supply ecosystem and social services.