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Advances in Organic Matter Residue Application for Sustainable Agriculture
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Advances in Organic Matter Residue Application for Sustainable Agriculture

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Soils".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2020) | Viewed by 14944

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Bente Foereid

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Environment and Natural Resources, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, P.O. Box 115, N-1431 Ås, Norway
Interests: carbon and nutrient cycling; environmental effects of agriculture/land use; use of organic residues as fertilisers; decomposition processes; gas emissions from soils
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

At the same time as energy and non-renewable mineral resources are consumed to produce mineral fertilisers, nutrients in organic residues are problem substances if released into the environment. Current waste treatment focusses mostly on limiting nutrient pollution to the environment, but in future, nutrients in organic residues should be treated as resources to be brought back into agricultural production to replace mineral fertilisers.

Not all nutrients in organic residues are immediately available to plants. Much research has focussed on determining the available fraction. We know the general trends, but there is still work to be done to be able to give farmers accurate advice regarding the dosage of each individual product. We also know something about the effect of various treatment options on nutrient availability and content. However, more work can still be done to tailor treatment options to achieve an optimal product in each case. The purpose of the treatment is to obtain a stable product and, in some cases, recover energy and obtain the nutrients in a better form. In some cases, very specific properties can be sought, such as for developing replacement product for peat in growing media.

There is relatively little research on other aspects of organic residue application than nutrient availability. More research could focus on how it affects greenhouse gas emissions from soil as well as nutrient leaching after application of products based on organic residues. Full estimations on how the use of organic fertilisers compare to mineral fertilisers in terms of global warming potential is mostly lacking.

Here, we invite papers dealing with all aspects of both treatment options and application and use of organic residues as fertilisers and soil amenders/growth substrates. All types of articles are welcome, including original research papers, opinions, and reviews.

Dr. Bente Foereid
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • organic residue
  • nutrient availability
  • global warming potential
  • decomposition
  • greenhouse gas emission
  • nutrient losses
  • treatment options

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 1256 KiB  
Article
Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N2O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis
by Lisa Essich, Peteh Mehdi Nkebiwe, Moritz Schneider and Reiner Ruser
Agriculture 2020, 10(11), 546; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10110546 - 13 Nov 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3184
Abstract
In order to quantify the reduction potential for nitrous oxide (N2O) release from arable soils through the removal of crop residues, we conducted an experiment after sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) harvest with three treatments: (i) ploughing of the crop [...] Read more.
In order to quantify the reduction potential for nitrous oxide (N2O) release from arable soils through the removal of crop residues, we conducted an experiment after sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) harvest with three treatments: (i) ploughing of the crop residues (+CR:D), (ii) returning residues after ploughing on the surface (+CR:S), and (iii) removal of the residues and ploughing (−CR). N2O fluxes were measured over 120 days in south Germany. High positive correlations between N2O fluxes and the CO2 fluxes and soil nitrate contents suggested denitrification as the main N2O source. N2O emissions in +CR:D was higher than in +CR:S (2.39 versus 0.93 kg N2O−N ha−1 120 d−1 in +CR:D and +CR:S). Residue removal in −CR reduced the N2O emission compared to +CR:D by 95% and to +CR:S by 87%. We further conducted a meta-analysis on the effect of crop residue removal on N2O emissions, where we included 176 datasets from arable soils with mainly rain fed crops. The overall effect of residue removal showed a N2O reduction of 11%. The highest N2O reduction of 76% was calculated for the removal subgroup with C/N-ratio < 25. Neither the remaining C/N-ratio subgroups nor the grouping variables “tillage” or “residue quantity” differed within their subgroup. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Organic Matter Residue Application for Sustainable Agriculture)
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17 pages, 1862 KiB  
Article
Effect of Crop Residue Decomposition on Soil Aggregate Stability
by Gheorghe Stegarescu, Jordi Escuer-Gatius, Kaido Soosaar, Karin Kauer, Tõnu Tõnutare, Alar Astover and Endla Reintam
Agriculture 2020, 10(11), 527; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10110527 - 05 Nov 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4493
Abstract
The decomposition of fresh crop residues added to soil for agricultural purposes is complex. This is due to different factors that influence the decomposition process. In field conditions, the incorporation of crop residues into soil does not always have a positive effect on [...] Read more.
The decomposition of fresh crop residues added to soil for agricultural purposes is complex. This is due to different factors that influence the decomposition process. In field conditions, the incorporation of crop residues into soil does not always have a positive effect on aggregate stability. The aim of this study was to investigate the decomposition effects of residues from two different cover crops (Brassica napus var. oleifera and Secale cereale) and one main crop (wheat straw) on soil aggregate stability. A 105-day incubation experiment was conducted in which crop residues were mixed with sandy loam soil at a rate of 6 g C kg−1 of soil. During the incubation, there were five water additions. The decomposition effects of organic matter on soil conditions during incubation were evaluated by determining the soil functional groups; carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4) emissions; soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC); and water-stable aggregates (WSA). The functional groups of the plant residues and the soil were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and a double exponential model was used to estimate the decomposition rates. The results show that the decomposition rate of fresh organic materials was correlated with the soil functional groups and the C/N ratio. Oilseed rape and rye, with lower C/N ratios than wheat straw residues, had faster decomposition rates and higher CO2 and N2O emissions than wheat straw. The CO2 and N2O flush at the start of the experiment corresponded to a decrease of soil aggregate stability (from Day 3 to Day 10 for CO2 and from Day 19 to Day 28 for N2O emissions), which was linked to higher decomposition rates of the labile fraction. The lower decomposition rates contributed to higher remaining C (carbon) and higher soil aggregate stability. The results also show that changes in the soil functional groups due to crop residue incorporation did not significantly influence aggregate stability. Soil moisture (SM) negatively influenced the aggregate stability and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in all treatments (oilseed rape, rye, wheat straw, and control). Irrespective of the water addition procedure, rye and wheat straw residues had a positive effect on water-stable aggregates more frequently than oilseed rape during the incubation period. The results presented here may contribute to a better understanding of decomposition processes after the incorporation of fresh crop residues from cover crops. A future field study investigating the influence of incorporation rates of different crop residues on soil aggregate stability would be of great interest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Organic Matter Residue Application for Sustainable Agriculture)
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17 pages, 2061 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Leonardite-Derived Amendments on Soil Microbiome Structure and Potato Yield
by Nuraly Akimbekov, Xiaohui Qiao, Ilya Digel, Gulzhamal Abdieva, Perizat Ualieva and Azhar Zhubanova
Agriculture 2020, 10(5), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10050147 - 01 May 2020
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 6799
Abstract
Humic substances originating from various organic matters can ameliorate soil properties, stimulate plant growth, and improve nutrient uptake. Due to the low calorific heating value, leonardite is rather unsuitable as fuel. However, it may serve as a potential source of humic substances. This [...] Read more.
Humic substances originating from various organic matters can ameliorate soil properties, stimulate plant growth, and improve nutrient uptake. Due to the low calorific heating value, leonardite is rather unsuitable as fuel. However, it may serve as a potential source of humic substances. This study was aimed at characterizing the leonardite-based soil amendments and examining the effect of their application on the soil microbial community, as well as on potato growth and tuber yield. A high yield (71.1%) of humic acid (LHA) from leonardite has been demonstrated. Parental leonardite (PL) and LHA were applied to soil prior to potato cultivation. The 16S rRNA sequencing of soil samples revealed distinct relationships between microbial community composition and the application of leonardite-based soil amendments. Potato tubers were planted in pots in greenhouse conditions. The tubers were harvested at the mature stage for the determination of growth and yield parameters. The results demonstrated that the LHA treatments had a significant effect on increasing potato growth (54.9%) and tuber yield (66.4%) when compared to the control. The findings highlight the importance of amending leonardite-based humic products for maintaining the biogeochemical stability of soils, for keeping their healthy microbial community structure, and for increasing the agronomic productivity of potato plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Organic Matter Residue Application for Sustainable Agriculture)
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