Enhanced top soil carbon stocks under organic farming
Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau · Research Institute of Organic Agriculture · +3 more institutions
Abstract
It has been suggested that conversion to organic farming contributes to soil carbon sequestration, but until now a comprehensive quantitative assessment has been lacking. Therefore, datasets from 74 studies from pairwise comparisons of organic vs. nonorganic farming systems were subjected to metaanalysis to identify differences in soil organic carbon (SOC). We found significant differences and higher values for organically farmed soils of 0.18 ± 0.06% points (mean ± 95% confidence interval) for SOC concentrations, 3.50 ± 1.08 Mg C ha(-1) for stocks, and 0.45 ± 0.21 Mg C ha(-1) y(-1) for sequestration rates compared with nonorganic management. Metaregression did not deliver clear results on drivers, but…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 38.50
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 38
Authors
11- AGAndreas GattingerCorresponding
Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
- AMAdrian Müller
Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
- MHMatthias Haeni
ETH Zurich, Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
- CSColin Skinner
Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
- AFAndreas Fließbach
Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
Topics & keywords
- Carbon sequestration
- Soil carbon
- Temperate climate
- Total organic carbon
- Soil quality
- Environmental science
- Organic farming
- Soil water