Insights into the Carbon Sequestration Potential of Rangelands Through Measurement and Modeling of Differently Managed Pastures

Abstract:

Poor management of rangelands has led to significant soil organic matter losses globally, and contributed to increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Restoring and increasing soil carbon (C) content in rangelands offers an opportunity to mitigate climate change while improving soil conditions and increasing forage production. Organic matter amendments are used to improve soil properties, but predicting the resulting changes in soil C is challenging due to the interactions between amendment characteristics, climate, and soil characteristics. We used data from 10 pasture-based dairies in California and the DayCent model to test the impact of long-term (>30 year) manure additions on soil C pools and fluxes. Soils were sampled from 26 fields which had solid, liquid, solid and liquid, or no manure additions. These field data and management information provided by the ranchers were used to model the effects of manure amends on soil C storage and loss.

Soil C was significantly greater in manured fields than non-manured fields when corrected for clay content and slope. Fields with higher clay had more soil C, as did those with lower slopes, and these effects were large enough to confound the manuring effect. DayCent was able to accurately estimate total soil C when parameterized with field-specific management practices, averaging only a 10±1% difference between measurement and modeled values. Using generalized management histories for manured and non-manured fields, as would be used for regional-scale estimates, produced less accurate results with a 24±3% average difference between measurement and modeled values. Modeling alternate scenarios for each field suggested that manure amendment increased soil C and forage production by 0.6 Mg ha^-1 y^-1 and 0.3 Mg ha^-1 y^-1, respectively. Forecasting to 2100 showed that in manure-amended fields, soil C increased until 2080 before stabilization, mostly through gains in the pool with slow turnover. The “passive soil C” pool generally declined due to a legacy effect of the historical shift in vegetation from perennial to annual grasses, and did not recover over the timespan considered here. These results demonstrate the potential of manure amendment to increase soil C in some rangelands and the ability of DayCent to reasonably approximate changes in soil C in response to management.