Effect of water table management and elevated CO 2 on radish productivity and on CH 4 and CO 2 fluxes from peatlands converted to agriculture.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read More Add to Saved list
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 0330500 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-1026 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00489697 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Total Environ Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Amsterdam, Elsevier.
    • Subject Terms:
      Agriculture* ; Greenhouse Effect* ; Groundwater*; Carbon Dioxide/*analysis ; Methane/*analysis ; Raphanus/*growth & development
    • Abstract:
      Anthropogenic activity is affecting the global climate through the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) e.g. CO 2 and CH 4 . About a third of anthropogenic GHGs are produced from agriculture, including livestock farming and horticulture. A large proportion of the UK's horticultural farming takes place on drained lowland peatlands, which are a source of significant amounts of CO 2 into the atmosphere. This study set out to establish whether raising the water table from the currently used -50cm to -30cm could reduce GHGs emissions from agricultural peatlands, while simultaneously maintaining the current levels of horticultural productivity. A factorial design experiment used agricultural peat soil collected from the Norfolk Fens (among the largest of the UK's lowland peatlands under intensive cultivation) to assess the effects of water table levels, elevated CO 2 , and agricultural production on GHG fluxes and crop productivity of radish, one of the most economically important fenland crops. The results of this study show that a water table of -30cm can increase the productivity of the radish crop while also reducing soil CO 2 emissions but without a resultant loss of CH 4 to the atmosphere, under both ambient and elevated CO 2 concentrations. Elevated CO 2 increased dry shoot biomass, but not bulb biomass nor root biomass, suggesting no immediate advantage of future CO 2 levels to horticultural farming on peat soils. Overall, increasing the water table could make an important contribution to global warming mitigation while not having a detrimental impact on crop yield.
      (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Carbon loss; Crop yield; Increased atmospheric CO(2); Land use change; Peat degradation; Sustainable agriculture
    • Accession Number:
      142M471B3J (Carbon Dioxide)
      OP0UW79H66 (Methane)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20170204 Date Completed: 20180627 Latest Revision: 20181202
    • Publication Date:
      20231215
    • Accession Number:
      10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.094
    • Accession Number:
      28153403