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Conservation Agriculture: Carbon Turnover and Carbon Sequestration for Enhancing Soil Sustainability and Mitigation of Climate Change

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Conservation Agriculture: A Sustainable Approach for Soil Health and Food Security

Abstract

Conservation agriculture (CA) practices have emerged as a sustainable production system in improving SOC and soil attributes, reducing soil erosion and also reverting land degradation. Worldwide the area under CA has been rapidly increasing due to its multiple benefits. CA practices, which consist of minimum soil disturbances, crop residue retention and crop diversification, have shown a positive effect on soil properties and crop productivity. However, optimum nitrogen management is found to be a key promising practice in CA to reduce greenhouse gases, especially N2O emissions, and, therefore, an effective option for climate change mitigation. Similarly, crop rotations/crop diversity in CA system had a significant positive effect on carbon (C) sequestration through greater crop residue retention and root biomass in soil. In this chapter, we address various aspects of no-till practices, crop residue and nutrition management on carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. We conclude that optimum N management in conservation agriculture is the key to maintaining/increasing SOC stocks, reducing net greenhouse gas emissions and sustaining food production.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Nabibagh, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Somasundaram Jayaraman

  2. School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Ram C. Dalal

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  1. Somasundaram Jayaraman
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  2. Ram C. Dalal
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Soil Physics, ICAR-Indian Institute Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Somasundaram Jayaraman

  2. School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Ram C. Dalal

  3. ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Ashok K. Patra

  4. DDG, Natural Resource Management, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, KAB-II, New Delhi, India

    Suresh K. Chaudhari

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Jayaraman, S., Dalal, R.C. (2021). Conservation Agriculture: Carbon Turnover and Carbon Sequestration for Enhancing Soil Sustainability and Mitigation of Climate Change. In: Jayaraman, S., Dalal, R.C., Patra, A.K., Chaudhari, S.K. (eds) Conservation Agriculture: A Sustainable Approach for Soil Health and Food Security . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0827-8_13

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