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Assessing the Soil Carbon, Biomass Production, and Nitrous Oxide Emission Impact of Corn Stover Management for Bioenergy Feedstock Production Using DAYCENT

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Abstract

Harvesting crop residue needs to be managed to protect agroecosystem health and productivity. DAYCENT, a process-based modeling tool, may be suited to accommodate region-specific factors and provide regional predictions for a broad array of agroecosystem impacts associated with corn stover harvest. Grain yield, soil C, and N2O emission data collected at Corn Stover Regional Partnership experimental sites were used to test DAYCENT performance modeling the impacts of corn stover removal. DAYCENT estimations of stover yields were correlated and reasonably accurate (adjusted r 2 = 0.53, slope = 1.18, p << 0.001, intercept = 0.36, p = 0.11). Measured and simulated average grain yields across sites did not differ as a function of residue removal, but the model tended to underestimate average measured grain yields. Modeled and measured soil organic carbon (SOC) change for all sites were correlated (adjusted r 2 = 0.54, p << 0.001), but DAYCENT overestimated SOC loss with conventional tillage. Simulated and measured SOC change did not vary by residue removal rate. DAYCENT simulated annual N2O flux more accurately at low rates (≤2-kg N2O-N ha−1 year−1) but underestimated when emission rates were >3-kg N2O-N ha−1 year−1. Overall, DAYCENT performed well at simulating stover yields and low N2O emission rates, reasonably well when simulating the effects of management practices on average grain yields and SOC change, and poorly when estimating high N2O emissions. These biases should be considered when DAYCENT is used as a decision support tool for recommending sustainable corn stover removal practices to advance bioenergy industry based on corn stover feedstock material.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this project was provided by the US Department of Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), as part of the USDA-ARS-Renewable Energy Assessment Project (REAP), renamed USDA-ARS-Resilient Economic Agricultural Practices (REAP). Additional funding was provided by the North Central Regional Sun Grant Center at South Dakota State University through a grant provided by the US Department of Energy—Office of Biomass Programs under award number DE-FC36-05GO85041. Many thanks is given to Dr. William Parton, Steve Williams, and Jonathan Fields for their assistance with developing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Colorado State University, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, 1231 East Drive, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Eleanor E. Campbell

  2. USDA-ARS, 803 Iowa Avenue, Morris, MN, 56267, USA

    Jane M. F. Johnson

  3. USDA-ARS Agroecosystems Management Research Unit, 137 Keim Hall, UNL—East Campus, Lincoln, NE, 68583, USA

    Virginia L. Jin & Gary E. Varvel

  4. USDA-ARS, 2923 Medary Avenue, Brookings, SD, 57006, USA

    R. Michael Lehman & Shannon L. Osborne

  5. Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Keith Paustian

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  1. Eleanor E. Campbell
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Correspondence to Eleanor E. Campbell.

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Campbell, E.E., Johnson, J.M.F., Jin, V.L. et al. Assessing the Soil Carbon, Biomass Production, and Nitrous Oxide Emission Impact of Corn Stover Management for Bioenergy Feedstock Production Using DAYCENT. Bioenerg. Res. 7, 491–502 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-014-9414-z

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