Project title
Soil management effects on soil organic matter properties and carbon sequestration
The project is financed by the National Center for Research and Development
under the European Joint Programme EJP SOIL:
Towards climate-smart sustainable management of agricultural soils
Contract number: EJPSOIL/I/78/SOMPACS/2022
Project Acronym
SOMPACS
Project implementation period
01.07.2022 r. – 30.06.2025 r.
Total cost
935 907 PLN
NCBR contribution
913 080 PLN
Contract signing date
wrzesień 2022 r.
Project coordinator
prof. dr hab. Jerzy Weber,
email: jerzy.weber@upwr.edu.pl
Team
- dr Irmina Ćwieląg-Piasecka
- dr Magdalena Dębicka
- dr hab. inż. Elżbieta Jamroz
- dr inż. Andrzej Kocowicz
Coordinating organization
Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland
Partners
- University of Rostock, Germany
- Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW),
- Poland Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lublin, Poland
- West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Poland
- University of Limerick, Ireland
- University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA
- University of Naples, naples, Italy
- Vytautas Magnus University, Agricultural Academy, Kauns, Lithuania
- University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
- Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK
- TERRA Agricultural Producers Group, Ltd., Prusice, Poland
Project summary
The objectives of the SOMPACS are to disclose management practices enriching soils with the organic matter pools which are most resistant to microbial decomposition. For this purpose, soil samples from eight long-term field experiments with different soil management and cultivation systems (conventional tillage vs. no-tillage; mineral vs. organic fertilization; management with and without catch crop; arable land vs. grassland; and cultivated vs. noncultivated soils) are investigated.
Field experiments include trials of increasing duration: 22-year (Lithuania); 26-year (Italy); 30-year (Poland, Ireland); 46-year (Poland); 54-year (Lithuania); 100-year (Poland) and 178-year Broadbalk experiment (UK). Experiments are also conducted on production fields, where additives stimulating the root growth (commercial humic products, biochar and biogas digestate) have been applied. The effects of these additives on the SOM content and yield are investigated also in plots of the selected long-term field experiments, as well as incubation studies on microbial decomposition of SOM and these additives.
In all field experiments plant productivity is analyzed and carbon stock to the depth of 1 m is evaluated. Additionally, the following investigations of SOM based on the state-of-the-art approaches are conducted: composition and stability of SOM by Py-GC-MS; aggregate size classes and C pools of increasing physico-chemical protection; microbiological properties (community level physiological profiling, selected functional genes involved in C and N cycles, microbiome and mycobiome analyses via next generation sequencing, genetic diversity using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism); analysis of δ13C and δ15N of the separated SOM pools; enzymatic activity; soil water retention and soil water repellency; mineral composition of clay fraction; soil structure stability.
The most recalcitrant SOM pool (humin) are isolated by different methods (extraction vs. separation in stable state) and examined for chemical composition and structure, using spectrometric and spectroscopic techniques (mass spectrometry, NMR, FTIR, EPR, UV-Vis-NIR, fluorescence). Cold water extractable C are determined to assess the potential C leaching and CO2 emissions from soil are measured directly under field conditions. The results obtained will be considered to link the humanistic/legal/socio-economic dimension of bringing natural sciences knowledge into the policy.
Contact
Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences
email: jerzy.weber@upwr.edu.pl
Useful links
https://www.gov.pl/web/ncbr/ejp-soil-ii
https://ejpsoil.eu/soil-research
https://ejpsoil.eu/soil-carbon-sequestration-climate-change-mitigation
https://ejpsoil.eu/soil-research/first-external-call-projects-selected/sompacs
