What crop type for atmospheric carbon sequestration: results from a global data analysis
Abstract
Sequestration of atmospheric carbon (C) into soils is a strategy to compensate for anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide. The response of SOCs to crop types is yet to be determined under different environments. The objectives of this study were to elucidate the impact of crop type on the allocation of atmospheric C to shoots and roots, and ultimately to the soils and to determine its association with soil carbon stocks. Three hundred and eighty-nine field trials were compared to determine allocation of biomass and C in plants and SOCs under fields of different crop types. Grasses had the highest plant biomass production (19.80±1.16Mgha−1yr−1), followed by cereals (9.44±0.45Mgha−1yr−1), fibre (7.90±1.00Mgha−1yr−1), legumes (3.29±0.63Mgha−1yr−1), and oil crops (3.05±1.16Mgha−1yr−1) showing significant differences (p<0.05). Maize (6.3±0.34 MgCha−1yr−1) had the highest plant C amongst summer crops, while wheat (2.2±0.35MgCha−1yr−1) had the highest plant C amongst winter crops. In all the studies, crops allocated more C to their shoots than roots yielding root C: shoot C (Rc/Sc) ratios below magnitude. The greatest C allocation to roots was in grasses (Rc/Sc=1.19±0.08), followed by cereals (0.95±0.03), legumes (0.86±0.04), oil crops (0.85±0.08), and fibre crops (0.50±0.07). There was evidence that high plant C stocks were found in crops grown under carbon rich clayey soils of tropical humid areas. Natural grasses and cereals should be promoted as they appeared to yield greater…
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Studies indicate that in general, well-managed grasslands continue to sequester C at greater rates than improved cropland, and transitions from cropland to grassland show some of the greatest rates of C sequestration, ranging from 0.22 to 8.0 Mg C ha-1 yr-1.
“Nevertheless, studies indicate that in general, well-managed grasslands continue to sequester C at greater rates than improved cropland, and transitions from cropland to grassland show some of the greatest rates of C sequestration, ranging from 0.22 to 8.0 Mg C ha -1 yr -1 (Machmuller et al., 2015;Mathew et al., 2017;Minasny et al., 2017;Powlson et al., 2011).”
From Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems (2018) · cites this paper as Mathew et al., 2017
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GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT AND CONVERSION INTO GRASSLAND: EFFECTS ON SOIL CARBON
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Stanley, P. L., Rowntree, J. E., Beede, D. K., DeLonge, M. S., & Hamm, M. W. (2018) · Agricultural Systems · doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2018.02.003 · Cited by 266 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mathew, I., Shimelis, H., Mutema, M., & Chaplot, V.
- Affiliations
- University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Chaplot, Vincent
- Venue
- Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-06
- Volume
- 243
- Pages
- 34-46
- ISSN
- 0167-8809 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2606606356
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 7.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Water Research Commission of South Africa (WRC) and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems
- Keywords
- soil carbon sequestration, crop types, soil organic carbon stocks, plant biomass, Poaceae, cereals, Fabaceae, oilseed crops, fiber crops, maize, wheat, carbon efficiency
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