Impact of Reduced Tillage and Green Manures on Soil Quality and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Work Package 3)

Reduced tillage systems and green manures mainly affect the distribution and quality of carbon and nitrogen stocks in the short term, but long-term predictions are largely unknown. The goal of this work package is to characterize soil quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from long-term experiments of the partners (comparing reduced and conventional tillage systems and systems with or without green manures).

Specifically, analysis of the interactions between management factors (rotation, tillage, fertilization and crop protection) will provide further understanding of and predictions for changes in physical, chemical and biological soil quality parameters and GHG emissions.

Contact

• Work package manager: Prof. Dr. Michael Schloter, Helmholtz Zentrum München,  Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (HMGU), Germany
• Deputy manager: Dr. Andreas Gattinger, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Switzerland

Tasks

• Task 3.1 Minimum data set, handbook of methods - part soil
• Task 3.2: Carbon stock analyses in long-term trials
• Task 3.3 Case studies: Soil biota
• Task 3.4 Case studies: Carbon and nitrogen quality
• Task 3.5 Case studies: greenhouse gas emissions
• Task 3.6 Case studies: Interactions between rotation, tillage, fertilisation and crop protection protocols