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Legume-based systems have reduced carbon and nitrogen losses

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dc.contributor.authorDrinkwater, L. E.en
dc.contributor.authorWagoner, P.en
dc.contributor.authorSarrantonio, M.en
dc.contributor.departmentSustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Knowledgebaseen
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-19T18:55:41Zen
dc.date.available2016-04-19T18:55:41Zen
dc.date.issued1998en
dc.descriptionMetadata only recorden
dc.description.abstractIn agricultural systems, optimization of carbon and nitrogen cycling through soil organic matter can improve soil fertility and yields while reducing negative environmental impact. A basic tenet that has guided the management of soil organic matter for decades has been that equilibrium levels of carbon and nitrogen are controlled by their net input and that qualitative differences in these inputs are relatively unimportant. This contrasts with natural ecosystems in which there are significant effects of species composition and litter quality on carbon and nitrogen cycling. Here we report the net balances of carbon and nitrogen from a 15-year study in which three distinct maize/soybean agroecosystems are compared. Quantitative differences in net primary productivity and nitrogen balance across agroecosystems do not account for the observed changes in soil carbon and nitrogen. We suggest that the use of low carbon-to-nitrogen organic residues to maintain soil fertility, combined with greater temporal diversity in cropping sequences, significantly increases the retention of soil carbon and nitrogen, which has important implications for regional and global carbon and nitrogen budgets, sustained production, and environmental quality.en
dc.format.mimetypetext/plainen
dc.identifier1077en
dc.identifier.citationNature 396(6708): 262-265en
dc.identifier.issn0028-0836en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/65934en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherMacmillan Publishers, Ltd.en
dc.relation.urihttp://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v396/n6708/abs/396262a0_fs.htmlen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.holderCopyright 1998 Macmillan Publishers Ltden
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectSoil organic matteren
dc.subjectEnvironmental impactsen
dc.subjectSoilen
dc.subjectSoil fertilityen
dc.subjectCarbon and nitrogen cyclingen
dc.subjectLegumesen
dc.subjectRotationsen
dc.subjectSoil carbonen
dc.subjectNitrogenen
dc.subjectFarm/Enterprise Scale Field Scaleen
dc.titleLegume-based systems have reduced carbon and nitrogen lossesen
dc.typeAbstracten
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Knowledgebase