Changes in soil carbon stocks under perennial and annual bioenergy crops
Open accessAbstract
Bioenergy crops are expected to provide biomass to replace fossil resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks are of primary importance. The aim of this study was to measure changes in SOC stocks in bioenergy cropping systems comparing perennial ( Miscanthus × giganteus and switchgrass), semi‐perennial (fescue and alfalfa), and annual (sorghum and triticale) crops, all established after arable crops. The soil was sampled at the start of the experiment and 5 or 6 years later. SOC stocks were calculated at equivalent soil mass, and δ 13 C measurements were used to calculate changes in new and old SOC stocks. Crop residues found in soil at the time of SOC measurements represented 3.5–7.2 t C ha −1 under perennial crops vs. 0.1–0.6 t C ha −1 for the other crops. During the 5‐year period, SOC concentrations under perennial crops increased in the surface layer (0–5 cm) and slightly declined in the lower layers. Changes in δ 13 C showed that C inputs were mainly located in the 0–18 cm layer. In contrast, SOC concentrations increased over time under semi‐perennial crops throughout the old ploughed layer (ca. 0–33 cm). SOC stocks in the old ploughed layer increased significantly over time under semi‐perennials with a mean increase of 0.93 ± 0.28 t C ha −1 yr −1 , whereas no change occurred under perennial or annual crops. New SOC accumulation was higher for semi‐perennial than for perennial crops (1.50 vs. 0.58 t C ha −1 yr −1 , respectively), indicating that the SOC change was due to a variation in C input rather than a change in mineralization rate. Nitrogen fertilization rate had no significant effect on SOC stocks. This study highlights the interest of comparing SOC changes over time for various cropping systems.
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Perennials produce more plant residues than annual crops.
“Soils that transition from annual to perennial crops may likely benefit from both: perennials produce more plant residues than annual crops (Ferchaud et al., 2016) and this extra organic matter consequently returns to the soil.”
From Changes in soil organic carbon under perennial crops (2020) · cites this paper as Ferchaud et al., 2016
Perennials have potential additional plant inputs from management interventions such as pruning and on-site retention of litter.
“Perennials not only produce more plant residue than annual crops (Ferchaud et al., 2016) but also have the potential additional plant inputs from management interventions such us pruning and on-site retention of litter (Ledo et al., 2018).”
From Changes in soil organic carbon under perennial crops (2020) · cites this paper as Ferchaud et al., 2016
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“Variation in SOC stock is a key term when calculating the GHG balance in bioenergy production (Don et al., 2011).”
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Changes in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
Ledo, A., Smith, P., Zerihun, A., Whitaker, J., Vicente‐Vicente, J. L., Qin, Z., McNamara, N. P., Zinn, Y. L., Llorente, M., Liebig, M., et al. (2020) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/gcb.15120 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
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“Ferchaud et al. (2016), in particular, hypothesized that the highest soil compaction under herbaceous PECs was a consequence of harvesting operations.”
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- Authors
- Ferchaud, F., Vitte, G., & Mary, B.
- Affiliations
- Fractionnation of AgroResources and Environment (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Ferchaud, Fabien
- Venue
- GCB Bioenergy
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2015-03-26
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 290-306
- ISSN
- 1757-1693 (ISSN-L)
- 1757-1707
- OpenAlex
- W2158523516
- Cited by
- 111
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 13.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- GCB Bioenergy (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- French National Agency (ANR)
- BPI-France
- 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 › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Keywords
- soil organic carbon stocks, energy crops, perennial crops, annual crops, Miscanthus × giganteus, switchgrass, Festuca, alfalfa, sorghum, triticale, carbon isotopes, crop residues, nitrogen fertilization
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