Assessment of Cropping Systems Effect on Soil Organic Matter in Iowa

The maintenance of organic matter in the soil system can help prevent soil degradation. Soil, as an open system, can play an important part in regulating greenhouse emission to the atmosphere. A current hypothesis is that soils can function as net sinks of atmospheric carbon, and therefore attenuate the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (C02) (Lal et al., 1995). Soil organic carbon (SOC) generally decreases with cultivation, and carbon lost from soil transfers into atmospheric C02, a greenhouse gas. Also, agricultural activities enhance other greenhouse gas emissions from soils, such as nitrogen oxide (N20). Since any changes in agricultural practices can influence the SOC storage in and greenhouse gas flux from soils, the net benefit due to changing agricultural practices needs to be explored