197 results for group: agriculture-1

The potential for carbon dioxide removal by enhanced rock weathering in the tropics: An evaluation of Costa Rica

Abstract Tropical environments show great potential to sequester CO2 by enhanced rock weathering (ERW) of powdered mafic rocks applied to agricultural fields. This study seeks to assess carbon dioxide reduction (CDR) potential in the humid tropics (1) by experimental weathering of mafic rock powders in conditions simulating humid tropical soils, and (2) from weathering rates determined from a Holocene tropical soil chronosequence where parent material is andesitic sediments. Experimentally determined weathering rates by leaching of basaltic andesites from Costa Rica (Arenal and Barva) for 50 t ha−1 applications indicate potential sequestration ...

Initial agronomic benefits of enhanced weathering using basalt: A study of spring oat in a temperate climate

ABSTRACT Addressing soil nutrient degradation and global warming requires novel solutions. Enhanced weathering using crushed basalt rock is a promising dual-action strategy that can enhance soil health and sequester carbon dioxide. This study examines the short-term effects of basalt amendment on spring oat (Avena sativa L.) during the 2022 growing season in NE England. The experimental design consisted of four blocks with control and basalt- amended plots, and two cultivation types within each treatment, laid out in a split plot design. Basalt (18.86 tonnes ha−1) was incorporated into the soil during seeding. Tissue, grain and soil samples ...

Environmental impacts and resource use of urban agriculture: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Erica Dorr, Benjamin Goldstein, Arpad Horvath, Christine Aubry, and Benoit Gabrielle Abstract Environmental merits are a common motivation for many urban agriculture (UA) projects. One powerful way of quantifying environmental impacts is with life cycle assessment (LCA): a method that estimates the environmental impacts of producing, using, and disposing of a good. LCAs of UA have proliferated in recent years, evaluating a diverse range of UA systems and generating mixed conclusions about their environmental performance. To clarify the varied literature, we performed a systematic review of LCAs of UA to answer the following questions: What is ...

Enhanced clay formation key in sustaining the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum

Alexander J. Krause, Appy Sluijs, Robin van der Ploeg, Timothy M. Lenton & Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann Abstract The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (around 40 million years ago) was a roughly 400,000-year-long global warming phase associated with an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations and deep-ocean acidification that interrupted the Eocene’s long-term cooling trend. The unusually long duration, compared with early Eocene global warming phases, is puzzling as temperature-dependent silicate weathering should have provided a negative feedback, drawing down CO2 over this timescale. Here we investigate silicate weathering during this ...

India’s biogeochemical capacity to attain food security and remediate climate

Ishfaq Ahmad Mir, Thomas J.F. Goreau, Joanna Campe, James Jerden Abstract In order to supply wholesome food and slow down climate change, this paper covers India’s agrogeological resources. The soils are the result of the weathering of rocks with ages ranging from more than a billion years to the most recent Holocene. Because they are severely deficient in vital minerals, many soils have low agricultural production. In addition to helping to fertilise soils, reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and stop the acidification of the Indian Ocean, rock powder weathering and bio-char have significant positive effects on the productivity of ...

Improving food security and farmland carbon sequestration in China through enhanced rock weathering: Field evidence and potential assessment in different humid regions

Fuxing Guo, Haowei Sun, Jing Yang, Linsen Zhang, Yan Mu, Yanping Wang, Fuyong Wu Abstract\ Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) in farmland is an emerging carbon dioxide removal technology with crushed silicate rocks for soil improvement. However, due to climatic variability and field data limitations, uncertainties remain regarding the influence of ERW on food security and soil carbon pools in temperate regions. This study focused to evaluate the crop productivity and carbon sequestration potential of farmland ERW in China by conducting field monitoring in different humid regions and ERW performance model. Additionally, the contribution of climate, ...

Basalt addition improves the performance of young grassland monocultures under more persistent weather featuring longer dry and wet spells

Simon Reynaert, Arthur Vienne, Hans J De Boeck, Tommy D'Hose, Ivan Janssens, Ivan Nijs, Miguel Portillo-Estrada, Erik Verbruggen, Sara Vicca, Sílvia Poblador Abstract Global warming is altering the intra-annual variability of precipitation patterns in the mid-latitudes, including a shift towards longer dry and wet spells compared to historic averages. Such fluctuations will likely alter soil water and nutrient dynamics of managed ecosystems which could negatively influence their functioning (e.g., productivity and fodder quality). Here, we investigated whether basalt addition could attenuate effects of increasingly persistent precipitation ...

Characterization of Physically Fractionated Wollastonite-Amended Agricultural Soils

Aashvi Dudhaiya, Fatima Haque, Hugo Fantucci, Rafael M. Santos Abstract Wollastonite is a natural silicate mineral that can be used as an agricultural soil amendment. Once in the soil, this mineral undergoes weathering and carbonation reactions, and, under certain soil and field crop conditions, our previous work has shown that this practice leads to accumulation of inorganic carbon (calcium carbonate). Mineral carbonation is the carbon sequestration approach with the greatest potential for sequestration capacity and permanency. Agricultural lands offer vast areas onto which such minerals can be applied, while benefiting crops. This work ...

Co-Benefits of Wollastonite Weathering in Agriculture: CO2 Sequestration and Promoted Plant Growth

Fatima Haque, Rafael M. Santos, Animesh Dutta, Mahendra Thimmanagari, Yi Wai Chiang Abstract To lock atmospheric CO2 at anthropogenic timescale, fast weathering silicates can be applied to soil to speed up natural CO2 sequestration via enhanced weathering. Agricultural lands offer large area for silicate application, but expected weathering rates as a function of soil and crop type, and potential impacts on the crops, are not well known. This study investigated the role of plants on enhanced weathering of wollastonite (CaSiO3) in soils. Using rooftop pot experiments with leguminous beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and non-leguminous corn (Zea mays ...

Solubility curve of rock powder inoculated with microorganisms in the production of biofertilizers

Valeria Nogueira da Silva, Luiz Eduardo de Souza Fernandes da Silva, Apolino Jose Nogueira da Silva, Newton Pereira Stamford, Gorete Ribeiro de Macedo Abstract The study was conducted at the Biochemistry Engineering Laboratory of the Federal University of the Rio Grande do Norte to verify the efficacy of microorganisms as solvents of apatite and biotite rock powder to enable the availability and rapid production of biofertilizers. Bacteria Paenibacillus polymyxa, Ralstonia solanacearum, Cromobacterium violaceum and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and fungi Penicillium fellutanum and Tricoderma humatum were inoculated into biotite rock powder and ...