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Simulating long-term soil carbon storage, greenhouse gas balance, and crop yields in semi-arid cropping systems using DayCent model

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Abstract

Crop-fallow systems are common in the arid and semi-arid Southwestern USA. The long fallow periods between crops reduce annual carbon (C) inputs and soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation. Cover cropping is promoted to reduce the fallow period and increase residue C returned to the soil, but the long-term SOC sequestration and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential of cover cropping are not well understood for dry regions. This study quantifies long-term changes in SOC sequestration and net greenhouse gas (GHG) balance using the DayCent ecosystem model. We estimated SOC storage and nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions in no-till winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)–fallow rotations with pea (Pisum sativum L.) and oat (Avena sativa L.) as cover crops and no-cover crop control. The DayCent simulation results on crop yields were evaluated with six years of observations and achieved R2 values of 0.66 and 0.81 for wheat grain and biomass yields, respectively. Similarly, the model captured the overall differences in cover crop biomass production. The simulations conducted for three decades showed a significantly greater SOC storage with cover cropping (26–36%) than without cover crops. Simulation of GHG emissions showed that oats as a cover crop could mitigate N2O emissions compared to control. Soil N2O emissions were greater with peas than with other cover crops, suggesting a smaller contribution of legume cover crops in reducing net GHG balance. Cover cropping could be a good strategy for long-term SOC storage in semi-arid regions, while their GHG mitigation potential varied with cover crop species.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partly funded by project No. 2022-67019-36106 of the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative and partly from the Healthy Soils Program of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Science Center Clovis, New Mexico State University, 2346 State Road 288, Clovis, NM, 88101, USA

    Prakriti Bista, Vesh R. Thapa & Rajan Ghimire

  2. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences Las Cruces, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA

    Prakriti Bista & Rajan Ghimire

  3. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Melannie D. Hartman

  4. The Center for Agricultural Resources Research, USDA-ARS, Soil Management and Sugarbeet Research, Fort Collins, CO, 80526, USA

    Stephen J. DelGrosso

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  1. Prakriti Bista
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PB and RG secured funding, PB and MH calibrated and evaluated the model, PB wrote the original manuscript, VRT and RG collected field data, SJG contributed to improving the model performance, and all authors reviewed and revised the manuscript.

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Bista, P., Hartman, M.D., DelGrosso, S.J. et al. Simulating long-term soil carbon storage, greenhouse gas balance, and crop yields in semi-arid cropping systems using DayCent model. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 128, 99–114 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-023-10335-4

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