4.1.
Best fertilization strategies to increase soil C sequestration
potential
Experience
with the measurement of SOC in long-term
experiments
has shown unavoidable variability in SOC and/or
the
bulk density measurements in fields/plots as well as from
anomalies
within plots that influence SOC decomposition or soil
loss,
so the detectable differences between treatments are typically
1–3
t C ha
1
yr
1
(Van den Bygaart et al., 2010). Here, we use the
NECB
approach for the entire soil–crop–atmosphere system to
estimate
soil carbon sequestration or loss over crop seasonal term.
Our
hypothesis was that nutrients supplied via chemical fertilizers,
animal
manures, and the return of straw would increase SOC by
increasing
C inputs from enhanced plant productivity and organic
amendments
returned to the soil. The estimates in the current
study
generally supported this hypothesis. Although the results of
SOC
sequestration in our study (1.01–1.27 t C ha
1
yr
1
) were