Role of Organic Amendments on the Emission and Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases (CO2, N2O, and CH4)

Dear Colleagues,

Global warming is one of the major consequences of human activities associated with increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O) (Paustian et al., 2006). Among anthropogenic activities, agriculture was seen as the first evidence of increased human-made GHGs in the atmosphere (Shakoor et al., 2021; Paustian et al., 2016) and it contributes almost 10-14% of total global GHG emissions, which includes 50 to 60% of N₂O and CH₄, which are directly linked with agricultural soil and its inputs like synthetic fertilizers (Shakoor et al., 2020). Therefore, organic amendments such as animal manure and biochar have been widely adopted to increase soil organic matter (SOM) stocks and to mitigate GHGs emissions (Clough et al., 2010; Lal, 2004). However, the effect of animal manure and biochar on the mitigation of GHG emissions remains inconsistent and suggests areas for further scientific investigation. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to gather high-quality papers related to the role of organic amendments on the emission and mitigation of GHGs from agricultural soils. This Special Issue welcomes original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, perspective articles, and meta-analysis studies.

Climate change due to GHG emissions is one of the global environmental matters of the 21^st century. Biochar and animal manure amendments have been proposed as a potential solution for improving soil quality and to mitigate GHGs emissions. Global warming because of the persistent rise in anthropogenic GHG emissions is projected to exert a severe influence on the sustainable development of human society and the natural ecosystem stability.

• CO₂, N₂O, and CH₄ are long-lived GHGs that are gradually causing severe environmental problems.
• Organic manure and biochar studies are needed to document a reliable direction or magnitude of soil GHGs emissions. Moreover, there is a lack of outdoor studies comparing the effects of different biochar and organic manure with varying ratios on soil GHG emissions.
• It is important to note that previously most of the biochar and organic manure-based studies either conducted in the field or laboratory involving both single type and multiple ratios have not combined potentially important indicators like soil temperature and moisture.
• We also encourage identifying the effectiveness of biochar and organic amendments in long-term microbial studies along with annual variations of GHG fluxes in different soil types for establishing a strategy for ecosystem management to mitigate GHG emissions.

References:

Shakoor, A., Shahbaz, M., Farooq, T. H., Sahar, N. E., Shahzad, S. M., Altaf, M. M., & Ashraf, M. (2021). A global meta-analysis of greenhouse gases emission and crop yield under no-tillage as compared to conventional tillage. Science of The Total Environment, 750, 142299.

Ashiq, W., Nadeem, M., Ali, W., Zaeem, M., Wu, J., Galagedara, L., ... & Cheema, M. (2020). Biochar amendment mitigates greenhouse gases emission and global warming potential in dairy manure-based silage corn in boreal climate. Environmental Pollution, 114869.

Shakoor, A., Shakoor, S., Rehman, A., Ashraf, F., Abdullah, M., Shahzad, S. M., ... & Altaf, M. A. (2020). Effect of animal manure, crop type, climate zone, and soil attributes on greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils—A global meta-analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 124019.

Chang, N., Zhai, Z., Li, H., Wang, L., & Deng, J. (2020). Impacts of nitrogen management and organic matter application on nitrous oxide emissions and soil organic carbon from spring maize fields in the North China Plain. Soil and Tillage Research, 196, 104441.

Plaza-Bonilla, D., Cantero-Martínez, C., Bareche, J., Arrúe, J. L., & Álvaro-Fuentes, J. (2014). Soil carbon dioxide and methane fluxes as affected by tillage and N fertilization in dryland conditions. Plant and Soil, 381(1-2), 111-130.

Cayuela, M. L., Sánchez-Monedero, M. A., Roig, A., Hanley, K., Enders, A., & Lehmann, J. (2013). Biochar and denitrification in soils: when, how much and why does biochar reduce N 2 O emissions?. Scientific reports, 3, 1732.

Dr. Awais Shakoor
Guest Editor

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• Greenhouse gas emissions
• CO₂
• N₂O
• CH₄
• Mitigation strategies
• Organic amendments
• Animal manure
• Animal slurry
• Biochar
• Agriculture
• Emission factors
• Climate change
• Modeling
• Environmental pollution
• Carbon sequestration
• Global warming