relation: http://oar.icrisat.org/10012/
title: Sequestering soil carbon in the low input farming systems of the semi-arid tropics – does litter quality matter?
creator: Whitbread, A M
creator: Lefroy, R
creator: Blair, G
creator: Konboon, Y
creator: Naklang, K
subject: Semi-Arid Tropics
subject: Farming Systems
subject: Drylands Agriculture
subject: Soil Science
description: Maintaining soil organic matter (SOM) in low input smallholder rice cropping systems worldwide is of  paramount importance to maintaining livelihoods and food security. A long term rainfed lowland rice  experiment tested the hypothesis that applying small (1.5 t/ha dry matter) annual additions of slowly  decomposable plant materials which were grown offsite and applied prior to land preparation, could result in  increased soil organic carbon, crop yield and improve the recovery of nutrients compared with plant materials  of higher quality or straw retention alone. Annual leaf litter applications over 9 seasons resulted in significant  increases in SOC of 39% (from 3.5 to 4.9 mg/g) in the leaf litter treatments compared to only 13 % in the noleaf  litter control. In terms of rice grain production and nutrient use efficiency, leaf litter quality was an  important driver. Apparent nutrient recovery of nitrogen and sulfur reflected the decomposition rate of the  added residues. Sustainable farming systems will require that crop yields are stable through the maintenance  of soil fertility and the balanced use of nutrients in the system. The results of this study are therefore highly  significant and provide evidence that low rate, long term residue management can have profound effects.
date: 2017
type: Conference or Workshop Item
type: PeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
language: en
identifier: http://oar.icrisat.org/10012/1/Global_Symposium_C_Extended_Abstract_March22_2017.PDF
identifier:   Whitbread, A M and Lefroy, R and Blair, G and Konboon, Y and Naklang, K  (2017) Sequestering soil carbon in the low input farming systems of the semi-arid tropics – does litter quality matter?  In: Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon, 21-23 March 2017, Rome, Italy.