Department of Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, University of Agriculture in Krakow, 31-120, Krakow, Poland.
Faculty of Production and Power Engineering, University of Agriculture in Krakow, 30-149, Krakow, Poland.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2024 Oct;31(50):60189-60205. doi: 10.1007/s11356-024-34759-9. Epub 2024 Oct 7.
Food production is one of the most important sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, both in primary production and in processing and the logistics chain. The most problematic and risky is the optimization of environmental effects in the stage of primary production. This is due to the significant influence of factors related to climate and soil that are difficult to predict. The scientific literature offers much information on the impact of crop residue management, but the context for assessing the impact of crop residue management in corn production on the carbon footprint is still unclear. The effectiveness of using organic additives like biochar, compost, corn, or straw to maintain soil productivity is well acknowledged. Information about the effects of particular crop residue management strategies on soil carbon sequestration, soil quality, and crop yield in corn cultivation is currently scarce. The research aimed to assess the potential for optimizing corn production through modifications in crop residue management, with a focus on the efficiency indicator being the level of greenhouse gas emissions per functional unit of the product. A 3-year growing experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of different corn crop residue management strategies. The modifications of the corn cultivation technology in terms of the crop residue management strategy had a significant impact on the yield of plants and the amount of GHG emissions. The conversion of corn straw to biochar and its introduction into the soil reduced the GHG emissions from corn cultivation per functional unit, despite the energy expenditure related to straw transport and biochar production. From a 3-year time perspective, a beneficial effect of biochar addition on the size of the commercial yield of plants was observed. In variants with biochar and a reduced level of nitrogen fertilization, no reduction in yields was observed. This confirmed the hypothesis that biochar could be a useful material for the production of slow-acting fertilizers.
粮食生产是温室气体（GHG）排放的最重要来源之一，无论是在初级生产还是在加工和物流链中。最成问题和最危险的是优化初级生产阶段的环境影响。这是由于与气候和土壤有关的因素具有很大的影响，而且难以预测。科学文献提供了大量关于作物残茬管理影响的信息，但评估玉米生产中作物残茬管理对碳足迹的影响的背景仍然不清楚。有机添加剂（如生物炭、堆肥、玉米或秸秆）在维持土壤生产力方面的有效性得到了充分的认可。关于特定作物残茬管理策略对土壤碳固存、土壤质量和玉米种植中作物产量的影响的信息目前还很缺乏。本研究旨在通过修改作物残茬管理来评估优化玉米生产的潜力，重点是效率指标为产品每功能单位的温室气体排放量。进行了为期 3 年的生长实验，以研究不同玉米作物残茬管理策略的影响。就作物残茬管理策略而言，对玉米种植技术的修改对植物的产量和温室气体排放的数量都有重大影响。尽管与秸秆运输和生物炭生产相关的能源支出，但将玉米秸秆转化为生物炭并将其引入土壤中，减少了每功能单位玉米种植的温室气体排放。从 3 年的时间角度来看，生物炭的添加对植物商业产量的大小产生了有益的影响。在生物炭和减少施氮量的变体中，没有观察到产量降低。这证实了生物炭可以作为生产缓效肥料的有用材料的假设。
