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Wiley, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1(1505), p. 102-117, 2021

DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14690

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A review of carbon farming impacts on nitrogen cycling, retention, and loss

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

AbstractSoil carbon (C) sequestration in agricultural working lands via soil amendments and management practices is considered a relatively well‐tested and affordable approach for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Carbon farming provides useful benefits for soil health, biomass production, and crop resilience, but the effects of different soil C sequestration approaches on the nitrogen (N) cycle remain controversial. While some C farming practices have been shown to reduce N fertilizer use in some cases, C farming could also impose an unwanted “N penalty” through which soil C gains can only be maintained with additional N inputs, thereby increasing N losses to the environment. We systematically reviewed meta‐analysis studies on the impacts of C farming on N cycling in agroecosystems and estimated the cumulative effect of several C farming practices on N cycling. We found that, on average, combined C farming practices significantly reduced nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching from soils, thus inferring both N cycling and climate change benefits. In addition to more widely studied C farming practices that generate organic C, we also discuss silicate rock additions, which offer a pathway to inorganic C sequestration that does not require additional N inputs, framing important questions for future research.