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SOIL & WATER MANAGEMENT & CONSERVATION

Management Effects on Soil Carbon Dioxide Fluxes under Semiarid Mediterranean Conditions

^a Dep. de Suelo y Agua, Estación Experimental de Aula Dei, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones, Científicas (CSIC), POB 202, 50080 Zaragoza, Spain
^b Dep. de Producció Vegetal i Ciencia Forestal, Univ. de Lleida–IRTA, Rovira Roure 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain

^* Corresponding author (jalvaro.fuentes{at}gmail.com).

Losses of soil organic carbon (SOC) have contributed to CO₂ emissions from soils to the atmosphere and to global climate change. We hypothesized that in semiarid agroecosystems of the Mediterranean region, a shift from the traditional management system (including conventional tillage [CT] and a cereal–fallow rotation) to a more conservative system, including no-till (NT) and continuous cropping, could reduce CO₂ emissions during the cropping season. Thus, in this study, we studied the effects of tillage and cropping systems on C inputs and soil CO₂ fluxes during three cropping seasons at three different sites in the Ebro River valley (northeast Spain). Carbon inputs ranged from 650 to 6000 kg ha^–1 and seasonal average CO₂ flux ranged from 0.10 to 1.76 g CO₂ m^–2 h^–1. Differences in rainfall led to marked differences in C inputs and soil fluxes among growing seasons. Although differences among tillage treatments were weak, CO₂ fluxes under NT were always lower. Intensification of cropping systems led to an increase in C input. A move from CT to NT together with cropping intensification is suitable to increase C inputs and to reduce soil CO₂ fluxes in semiarid Mediterranean agroecosystems.

Abbreviations: AG, Agramunt site • CF, cereal–fallow rotation • CT, conventional tillage • NT, no-till • PN, Peñaflor site • PN-CC, continuous cropping system at the Peñaflor site • PN-CF, cereal–fallow rotation at the Peñaflor site • SV, Selvanera site