Changes in soil carbon and crop yield over 60 years in the Zurich Organic Fertilization Experiment, following land‐use change from grassland to cropland

Changes in land-use and agricultural management affect soil organic C (SOC) storage and soil fertility. Grassland to cropland conversion is often accompanied by SOC losses. However, fertilization, crop rotation, and crop residue management can offset some SOC losses or even convert arable soils into C sinks. This paper presents the first assessment of changes in SOC stocks and crop yields in a 60-year field trial, the Zurich Organic Fertilization Experiment A493 (ZOFE) in Switzerland. The experiment comprises 12 treatments with different organic, inorganic and combined fertilization regimes. Since conversion to arable land use in 1949, all treatments have lost SOC at annual rates of 0.10–0.25 t C ha−1, with estimated mean annual C inputs from organic fertilizers and aboveground and belowground plant residues of 0.6–2.4 t C ha−1. In all treatments, SOC losses are still in progress, indicating that a new equilibrium has not yet been reached. Crop yields have responded sensitively to advances in plant breeding and in fertilization. However, in ZOFE high yields can only be ensured when mineral fertilizer is applied at rates typical for modern agriculture, with yields of main crops (winter wheat, maize, potatoes, clover-grass ley) decreasing by 25–50% when manure without additional mineral fertilizer is applied. ZOFE shows that land-use change from non-intensively managed grassland to cropland leads to soil C losses of 15–40%, even in rotations including legumes and intercrops, improved agricultural management and organic fertilizer application.

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