Effect of crop residue harvest on long-term crop yield, soil erosion and nutrient balance: trade-offs for a sustainable bioenergy feedstock

Gregg, J.S. and Izaurralde, R.C. (2010) Effect of crop residue harvest on long-term crop yield, soil erosion and nutrient balance: trade-offs for a sustainable bioenergy feedstock. Biofuels, 1 (1). pp. 69-83.

[img] PDF - Published Version
Restricted to ICRISAT researchers only

Abstract

Background: Agricultural residues could potentially be converted to bioenergy, but the sustainable harvest rate is unclear. Results: Residue removal increases soil loss at rates that vary with topography, crop rotation and management; decreases yields (100-year mean yields changed -0.07 to -0.08% for every percent of residue mass removed); decreases soil carbon (approximately 40–90 kg C ha-1 year-1 per Mg of residue harvested); and decreases soil nitrogen (3 kg N ha-1 year-1 per Mg residue harvested). Conclusion: Even where soil loss is within tolerable limits, harvesting residue is a question of trade-offs in terms of reduction of yield and loss of soil nutrients. The effects of increased residue harvest are highly variable, depending on local climate and soil erodibility and it is thus problematic to apply a single harvest rate globally. However, on flat land under conservation management, the majority of residue could be sustainably harvested for bioenergy

Item Type: Article
Author Affiliation: University of Maryland, Department of Geography, College Park, MD 20742, USA, 2Joint Global Change Research Institute, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Subjects: Plant Production
Soil Science and Microbiology
Crop Improvement
Divisions: General
Depositing User: Mr. SanatKumar Behera
Date Deposited: 19 Dec 2012 11:18
Last Modified: 19 Dec 2012 11:18
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.4155/bfs.09.8
URI: http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/9171

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item