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1 Title Carbon and Nitrogen Stock Comparisons of Corn Monocultures 1 Title Carbon and nitrogen stock comparisons of corn monocultures, biodynamic graze land, and permaculture managements, as an indicator of carbon sequestration and nitrogen leaching potential across practices. Author Michael Howard Mentors Dr. Sherlynette Perez-Castro Dr. Faming Wang Dr. Jim Tang Abstract The spread of industrial agriculture and large monoculture croplands comes with an increased frequency of nitrogen watershed pollutions and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. In hopes to mitigate and potentially reverse these ecological damages, it is important to perform comparisons on the nitrogen leaching and carbon storage potentials across soils of differing agricultural managements. In this study, soil depth profiles of 50cm were compared from four sample sites; a conventional corn monoculture, an organic corn monoculture, a biodynamic dairy graze land, and a permaculture site within the town of Hudson, NY. To assess - + nitrogen leaching potential nitrate (NO3 ), ammonium (NH4 ), and total organic nitrogen (TON), were analyzed. While organic matter (OM), ground water content (GWC), and total organic carbon (TOC) were used in comparison of soil carbon stocks. The permaculture and dairy sites + showed the greatest concentrations of NH4 , TON, TOC, and OM, along with a favorable depth + - distribution of NH4 and NO3 with higher concentrations at the surface and decreasing - concentrations with depth. The conventional site showed the greatest concentration of NO3 in an unfavorable depth gradient with the highest concentrations at the deepest depths. The organic + and conventional sites showed a low percent OM and NH4 with slight trends across depth. The collected data indicates a greater carbon stock and favorable nutrient accumulation within the dairy and permaculture sites. The organic and conventional sites show a lower carbon stock and - nutrient accumulation, with the conventional site showing the greatest potential for NO3 leaching. The data from this study will be used to compliment ongoing eddie covariance and nitrogen cycling experiments at the same sites to further compare both carbon sequestration and nitrogen leaching across practices. This study shows the permaculture and biodynamic dairy sites to contribute the most to carbon sequestration, possess the most favorable nutrient profile, and contribute the least to potential nitrogen leaching due to the polyculture diversity of these sites, the lack of tilling, the use of organic fertilizer, and the complex rotations of the permaculture site. More research is suggested to examine these management factors independently. Introduction Industrial agriculture is a major contributor to the increase in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Tilman et al., 2011). The supply of available nitrogen in the form of fertilizer has resulted in a release of nitrous oxide (N2O) gas from the conversion of inorganic nitrogen to 2 organic nitrogen (Mosier et al., 1998). The growing number of ruminant livestock, such as cattle, has lead to an increase in global methane (CH4) release (Johnson & Johnson, 1995). Taking up 40% of terrestrial land use, global agricultural has had a massive impact on carbon (C) sequestration potential through the conversion of natural flora to croplands (Asner et al., 2004) (Vitousek et al., 1986). With such a large percentage of land affected by agricultural disturbance, it is of growing interest to evaluate the carbon sequestration potential of differing agricultural practices. Current findings seem to suggest that no till agriculture sequesters more carbon dioxide (CO2) than tilling practices (Smith et al., 1998). Under till practices more subsurface carbon is exposed to weathering elements increasing carbon decomposition (Blanco-Canqui & Lal, 2007). It is uncertain whether organic or inorganic fertilizer application sequesters more CO2 (Aquino et al., 2017). The expansion of industrial agriculture has been accompanied with an increased usage of synthesized nitrogen (N) fertilizer. A series of “Green Revolutions” resulted in the global use of nitrogen fertilizer to increase 700% in the last 40 years (Tilman et al., 2001). Anthropogenic synthesized fertilizer has doubled the rate of natural N-fixation on the planet (Kinzig & Socolow, 1994). In rainfall events, the percolation of water through the soil can leach these fixed soluble + - nitrogen ions, ammonium (NH4 ) and nitrate (NO3 ), into the water table. This nutrient addition can have dramatic effects upon respective watersheds; resulting in eutrophication events caused by algal blooms which can lead to anoxic zones that threaten local fisheries (Rabalais et al., 2002). N leaching has been studied to potentially decrease when shifting from synthesized to organic fertilizer, manure and compost (Mäder et al., 2002). N leaching of has been amplified under the agricultural practice of tilling. As the soil is homogenized, it results in less clay structure to bind to the present ions and contain them within the soil profile (Mkhabela et al., 2008). The objectives of this study were to conduct a regional (Hudson Valley, NY) comparison of C and N soil stocks across depths at four differing agricultural land managements; an organic corn monoculture, a conventional corn monoculture, a biodynamic dairy graze land, and a permaculture operation with both perennial and annual crops. The measured variables include; soil organic matter (SOM), gravimetric water content (GWC), total organic carbon (TOC), total + - organic nitrogen (TON), NH4 , and NO3 . These C and N stock variables were used as proxies for soil health, indicators to compare potential carbon sequestration, and indicators of N leaching potential. The goal of this study was to provide preliminary insight into what agricultural managements minimize the negative environmental effects of greenhouse gas emissions and N pollution caused in the agricultural sector, while suggesting what particular practices contributed to a desirable soil profile and should be investigated further. It was hypothesized that C stocks would be the greatest at the permaculture and dairy sites and the lowest at the organic and conventional sites. This was due to the expected accumulation of soil organic matter within the permaculture and dairy managements indicating a greater sequestration potential. Expected N stocks were hypothesized to indicate a favorable concentration gradient, concentrations decreasing with increasing depth, amongst the permaculture and dairy sites; along with a steady or an unfavorable concentration gradient, increasing with depth highest, at the conventional and organic sites. These expected gradients would indicate the lowest leaching potential at the permaculture and dairy sites and the greatest 3 leaching potential at the conventional and organic sites. Based upon the C and N stock hypotheses it was predicted that the permaculture and dairy sites would indicate the greatest soil health. The data from this study will be complimentary to ongoing Eddie Covariance gas flux and resin bag N cycling experiments being conducted at the same sites (Tang & Wang, unpublished). Centralized at Stone House Grain Farm, previous research on these sites played a pivotal legislative role in blueprinting the agricultural carbon sequestration study laid out in Bill A11111 of the NYS Senate (NYS Assembly). It is our hope that the complementary data collected in this study will provide a foundation to further agricultural and environmental legislative insight. Materials and Methods Site Description: The four study sites are located within the town of Hudson, NY in Columbia County. They are located within close proximity to one another. The organic farm is located at 42° 9'57.42"N, 73°46'13.39"W, the conventional farm at 42° 6'59.51"N, 73°48'34.48"W, and the dairy and permaculture at 42°10'28.49"N, 73°43'42.80"W. The dairy and permaculture sites are located on the same property adjacent to one another. The conventional farm is a monoculture operation producing corn, soybean, and wheat crops in a three-year rotation. This past year a corn monoculture was grown. This farm does not have a USDA organic certification. The owners typically operate under a no till practice but the land was tilled in the Fall of 2017. Synthesized inorganic N fertilizer is applied to the crops each year. The organic farm operates under a no till (NT) practice. The farm produces corn and soybeans in a biannual rotation. This past year a corn monoculture was grown. The owners plant cover crops each growing season throughout the rows. Organic fertilizer is used as the only source of added fertilizer to the system. The dairy graze land is used as pasture for dairy cows. This farm is under a biodynamic land management (Kennedy & Reganold, 2000). The grasses contain a diverse arrange of regional grazing strains that make up the entirety of the ground cover The cattle eat the grasses growing in the pasture, disturb the vegetation through movement, and input nutrients into the soil through the excretion of their own waste. No anthropogenic organic or inorganic fertilizer is added to this land besides the excretions from the cows. Some of the manure produced from the cows each year is exported off the graze land and used as fertilizer on the permaculture beds. At a depth of roughly 20cm the soil is composed significantly of rocks. The permaculture operation consists of a variety of perennial and annual raised beds growing primarily herbs and berries. This site had the shortest history
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