Long-term organic farming on a citrus plantation results in soil organic carbon recovery

  1. A. Novara 1
  2. M. Pulido 2
  3. J. Rodrigo-Comino 3
  4. S. Di Prima 4
  5. P. Smith 5
  6. L. Gristina 1
  7. A. Gimenez-Morera 6
  8. E. Terol 6
  9. D. Salesa 7
  10. S. Keesstra 8
  1. 1 University of Palermo
    info

    University of Palermo

    Palermo, Italia

    ROR https://ror.org/044k9ta02

  2. 2 Universidad de Extremadura
    info

    Universidad de Extremadura

    Badajoz, España

    ROR https://ror.org/0174shg90

  3. 3 Universidad de Málaga
    info

    Universidad de Málaga

    Málaga, España

    ROR https://ror.org/036b2ww28

  4. 4 University of Lyon System
    info

    University of Lyon System

    Lyon, Francia

    ROR https://ror.org/01rk35k63

  5. 5 University of Aberdeen
    info

    University of Aberdeen

    Aberdeen, Reino Unido

    ROR https://ror.org/016476m91

  6. 6 Universitat Politècnica de València, España
  7. 7 Universitat de València, España
  8. 8 Wageningen University Research, The Netherlands; The University of Newcastle, Australia
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Revista:
Cuadernos de investigación geográfica: Geographical Research Letters

ISSN: 0211-6820,  1697-9540

Any de publicació: 2019

Volum: 45

Número: 1

Pàgines: 271-286

Tipus: Article

DOI: 10.18172/CIG.3794 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

Altres publicacions en: Cuadernos de investigación geográfica: Geographical Research Letters

Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible

Resum

It has been shown that soil management under organic farming can enhance soil organic carbon, thereby mitigating atmospheric greenhouse gas increases, but until now quantitative evaluations based on long term experiments are scarce, especially under Mediterranean conditions. Changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) content were examined in response to organic management with cover crops in a Mediterranean citrus plantation using 21 years of survey data. Soil organic carbon increase was more apparent 5 years after a land management change suggesting that, for citrus plantations on Mediterranean conditions, studies should be longer than five years in duration. Soil organic carbon sequestration rate did not significantly change during the 21 years of observation, with values ranging from -1.10 Mg C ha-1 y-1 to 1.89 Mg C ha-1 y-1. After 21 years, 61 Mg CO2 ha-1 were sequestered in long-lived soil C pools. These findings demonstrate that organic management is an effective strategy to restore or increase SOC content in Mediterranean citrus systems.

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Informació de finançament

This research was funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant no. 603498 (RECARE Project) and the research projects GL2008-02879/BTE and LEDDRA 243857.

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