Assessment of Cropping Systems Effect on Soil Organic Matter in Iowa
Date
Authors
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Altmetrics
Authors
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
The Iowa State University Integrated Crop Management Conference is Iowa's premier crop production education event. No other program in Iowa brings together the diverse range of topics, slate of expert presenters and results of the latest University research.
The ICM Conference offers workshops focusing on the latest in crop production technology. Experts from Iowa and surrounding states will provide research updates and results in soil fertility, soil and water management, crop production and pest management.
Department
Abstract
The maintenance of organic matter in the soil system can help prevent soil degradation. Soil, as an open system, can play an important part in regulating greenhouse emission to the atmosphere. A current hypothesis is that soils can function as net sinks of atmospheric carbon, and therefore attenuate the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (C02) (Lal et al., 1995). Soil organic carbon (SOC) generally decreases with cultivation, and carbon lost from soil transfers into atmospheric C02, a greenhouse gas. Also, agricultural activities enhance other greenhouse gas emissions from soils, such as nitrogen oxide (N20). Since any changes in agricultural practices can influence the SOC storage in and greenhouse gas flux from soils, the net benefit due to changing agricultural practices needs to be explored.