Quantifying the effects of switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ) on deep organic C stocks using natural abundance 14 C in three marginal soils
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Perennial bioenergy crops have been shown to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, potentially offsetting anthropogenic C emissions. The effects of perennial bioenergy crops on SOC are typically assessed at shallow depths (<30 cm), but the deep root systems of these crops may also have substantial effects on SOC stocks at greater depths. We hypothesized that deep (>30 cm) SOC stocks would be greater under bioenergy crops relative to stocks under shallow‐rooted conventional crop cover. To test this, we sampled soils to between 1‐ and 3‐m depth at three sites in Oklahoma with 10‐ to 20‐year‐old switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ) stands, and collected paired samples from nearby fields cultivated with shallow rooted annual crops. We measured root biomass, total organic C, 14 C, 13 C, and other soil properties in three replicate soil cores in each field and used a mixing model to estimate the proportion of recently fixed C under switchgrass based on 14 C. The subsoil C stock under switchgrass (defined over 500–1500 kg/m 2 equivalent soil mass, approximately 30–100 cm depth) exceeded the subsoil stock in neighboring fields by 1.5 kg C/m 2 at a sandy loam site, 0.6 kg C/m 2 at a site with loam soils, and showed no significant difference at a third site with clay soils. Using the mixing model, we estimated that additional SOC introduced after switchgrass cultivation comprised 31% of the subsoil C stock at the sandy loam site, 22% at the loam site, and 0% at the clay site. These results suggest that switchgrass can contribute significantly to subsoil organic C—but also indicated that this effect varies across sites. Our analysis shows that agricultural strategies that emphasize deep‐rooted grass cultivars can increase soil C relative to conventional crops while expanding energy biomass production on marginal lands.
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Carbon storage of topsoil (approximately 0-30 cm depth) and subsoil (approximately 30-100 cm depth) in switchgrass areas was significantly higher than in reference on degraded land after sandstorms.
“The carbon storage of topsoil (approximately 0–30 cm depth) and subsoil (approximately 30–100 cm depth) in switchgrass areas were significantly higher than those in reference (p < 0.01).”
From Effects of Biofuel Crop Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) Cultivation on Soil Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Review (2022) · cites this paper as [65]
Cites
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“…the majority of existing studies on land conversion to perennial crops still deal with relatively shallow sampling depths: increasing the number of studies that sample deeply is an imperative for improving regional-to global-scale prediction of perennial crop effects on SOC (Ledo et al., 2020).”
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Bai, J., Luo, L., Li, A., Lai, X., Zhang, X., Yu, Y., Wang, H., Wu, N., & Zhang, L. (2022) · Life · doi:10.3390/life12122105 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
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“…ranges from −0.6 to 4.3 Mg C ha −1 year −1 , depending on climate, soil properties, land use history and so on (Agostini et al., 2015; Dheri et al., 2022; Follett et al., 2012; Jin et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2007; Lemus & Lal, 2005; Liebig et al., 2008; Slessarev et al., 2020; Valdez et al., 2017).”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Slessarev, E. W., Nuccio, E. E., McFarlane, K. J., Ramon, C. E., Saha, M., Firestone, M. K., & Pett‐Ridge, J.
- Affiliations
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Noble Research Institute (US)
- University of California System (US)
- Corresponding author
- Slessarev, Eric W.
- Pett‐Ridge, Jennifer
- ORCID
- Venue
- GCB Bioenergy
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-08-07
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 834-847
- ISSN
- 1757-1693 (ISSN-L)
- 1757-1707
- OpenAlex
- W3044784584
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 4.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- GCB Bioenergy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (19‐ERD‐010)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DE‐SC0014079, SCW1555, SCW1632, DE‐AC52‐07NA27344)
- 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
- switchgrass, soil organic carbon, carbon-13, mixing models, root biomass, marginal land, sandy loam soil, loam soil, clay soil, biomass energy
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