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Synergistic effects of multiple “good agricultural practices” for promoting organic carbon in soils : A systematic review of long-term experiments

López i Losada, Raül LU orcid ; Hedlund, Katarina LU orcid ; Haddaway, Neal Robert ; Sahlin, Ullrika LU orcid ; Jackson, Louise E. ; Kätterer, Thomas ; Lugato, Emanuele ; Jørgensen, Helene B. LU and Isberg, Per Erik LU (2025) In Ambio
Abstract

Loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) from farmland is a key threat to the capacity of soils to provide ecosystem services and exacerbates climate change. In alignment with a published protocol, we conducted a review and meta-analysis of time series of SOC measurements in long-term agricultural experiments to study absolute SOC changes under different agricultural management regimes. Our results show that SOC in the upper 30 cm layer generally declined across long-term experiments (214 time data series in arable land across 23 sites in temperate to cold regions), but reducing tillage, adding organic amendments, diversifying crop rotations and avoiding bare fallows reduced losses. Furthermore, a net increase in SOC content is achieved when... (More)

Loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) from farmland is a key threat to the capacity of soils to provide ecosystem services and exacerbates climate change. In alignment with a published protocol, we conducted a review and meta-analysis of time series of SOC measurements in long-term agricultural experiments to study absolute SOC changes under different agricultural management regimes. Our results show that SOC in the upper 30 cm layer generally declined across long-term experiments (214 time data series in arable land across 23 sites in temperate to cold regions), but reducing tillage, adding organic amendments, diversifying crop rotations and avoiding bare fallows reduced losses. Furthermore, a net increase in SOC content is achieved when combining all four interventions. Applying multiple strategies for SOC preservation can unleash the potential for agricultural land to become a carbon sink while safeguarding agricultural yields for future generations.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
Amendment, Carbon sequestration, Crop rotation, Fertiliser, Meta-analysis, Tillage
in
Ambio
publisher
Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
external identifiers
  • pmid:40423915
  • scopus:105006695289
ISSN
0044-7447
DOI
10.1007/s13280-025-02188-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.
id
d4ad6726-81b3-4a3d-8f5a-b31bcb9ba33b
date added to LUP
2025-08-18 15:24:24
date last changed
2025-09-01 16:34:41
@article{d4ad6726-81b3-4a3d-8f5a-b31bcb9ba33b,
  abstract     = {{<p>Loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) from farmland is a key threat to the capacity of soils to provide ecosystem services and exacerbates climate change. In alignment with a published protocol, we conducted a review and meta-analysis of time series of SOC measurements in long-term agricultural experiments to study absolute SOC changes under different agricultural management regimes. Our results show that SOC in the upper 30 cm layer generally declined across long-term experiments (214 time data series in arable land across 23 sites in temperate to cold regions), but reducing tillage, adding organic amendments, diversifying crop rotations and avoiding bare fallows reduced losses. Furthermore, a net increase in SOC content is achieved when combining all four interventions. Applying multiple strategies for SOC preservation can unleash the potential for agricultural land to become a carbon sink while safeguarding agricultural yields for future generations.</p>}},
  author       = {{López i Losada, Raül and Hedlund, Katarina and Haddaway, Neal Robert and Sahlin, Ullrika and Jackson, Louise E. and Kätterer, Thomas and Lugato, Emanuele and Jørgensen, Helene B. and Isberg, Per Erik}},
  issn         = {{0044-7447}},
  keywords     = {{Amendment; Carbon sequestration; Crop rotation; Fertiliser; Meta-analysis; Tillage}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Springer Science and Business Media B.V.}},
  series       = {{Ambio}},
  title        = {{Synergistic effects of multiple “good agricultural practices” for promoting organic carbon in soils : A systematic review of long-term experiments}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13280-025-02188-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s13280-025-02188-8}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}