CO2 fluxes and drivers as affected by soil type, tillage and fertilization

Importance of agricultural practices for greenhouse gases mitigation is examined worldwide. However, there is no consensus on CO2 emissions as affected by soil management practices. Deeper understanding of soil CO2 fluxes and drivers under different management practices are needed. The investigation of net CO2 exchange rate as dependent variable and drivers (soil water and temperature, air temperature) as affected by soil type (loam and sandy loam), tillage (conservation and no-tillage) and fertilization are presented. Soil management practices and weather conditions affected the CO2 flux through effects on soil water and temperature regime. Mean net CO2 exchange rate on sandy loam was 8% higher than on loam. No-tillage, as a moisture-conserving tool, could be an appropriate tool for CO2 emissions mitigation in any weather conditions on sandy loam; however, the advantage of no-tillage on loam was negligible. Mineral NPK fertilizers promoted significantly higher net CO2 exchange rate in both soils, but suppressed it by 15% on sandy loam during a normal year. Effect of soil water content on net CO2 exchange rate was direct in all tillage and fertilization treatments in both loam and sandy loam, whereas this effect was positive only in dry and normal weather conditions. In wet weather conditions, the direct effect of soil water content on net CO2 exchange rate was negative. Soil and air temperature acted indirectly on net CO2 exchange rate. The increase in temperature markedly suppressed the positive direct impact of soil water content on net CO2 exchange rate in dry weather conditions, but did not reduce the direct effect of soil water content in normal weather conditions. In a wet year the negative indirect effect of increased temperature enhanced the negative direct impact of soil water surplus on net CO2 exchange rate.