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Carbon footprints of grain-, forage-, and energy-based cropping systems in the North China plain

  • CARBON FOOTPRINTING
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Low carbon footprint agriculture has received increasing attention in the effect of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change. However, little is known about how crop diversification may affect the system productivity and the carbon footprint.

Methods

In this study, we analyzed the carbon footprints of four cropping systems: winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–summer maize (Zea mays L.) (WM, grain crop pattern, 1-year cycle); ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)–sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) (RS, forage crop pattern, 1-year cycle); ryegrass–sweet sorghum → winter wheat–summer maize (RSWM, grain plus forage crop pattern, 2-year cycle); and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) perennial cropping (SG, energy crop pattern) that have been evaluated in a long-term (2009–2015) field experiment in the North China Plain (NCP). Carbon footprints were expressed using three metrics: CFa (per unit area), CFb (per kg of biomass), and CFe (per unit of economic output).

Results and discussion

The results showed that switchgrass as a perennial herbaceous crop with one cut per year had the lowest annual carbon footprint at three metrics. The WM cropping system had the highest annual CFa, CFb, and CFe values which were 1.73, 2.23, and 1.78 times higher, respectively, than those of the RSWM cropping system. The RS cropping system had the lower annual CFa, CFb, and CFe values, which accounted for 20.9, 3.4, and 2.9%, respectively, of the WM cropping system. The four cropping systems had annual carbon footprints at per unit area, per kilogram of biomass and per unit of economic output ranked from lowest to highest of SG < RS < RSWM < WM.

Conclusions

We conclude that appropriately designed, diversified cropping systems that include grain, forage, and bioenergy crops can effectively reduce the carbon footprint while maintaining or even increasing the systems productivity in the North China Plain.

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Abbreviations

CF:

carbon footprint

CFa :

carbon footprint per unit area

CFb :

carbon footprint per kg of biomass

CFe :

carbon footprint per unit of economic output

CO2 eq:

carbon dioxide equivalents

GHGs:

greenhouse gas emissions

NCP:

North China Plain

RS:

ryegrass-sweet sorghum

RSWM:

ryegrass–sweet sorghum → winter wheat–summer maize

SG:

switchgrass perennial cropping

SOC:

Soil organic carbon

WM:

winter wheat–summer maize

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Funding

This work was jointly financed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31601267) and National Key Project of Scientific and Technical Supporting Programs (No. 2016YFD0300203; No. 2016YFD0300105) and the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund (2017NX003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaolin Yang, Beibei Sun, Wangsheng Gao, Yuanquan Chen & Peng Sui

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  1. Xiaolin Yang
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  2. Beibei Sun
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  3. Wangsheng Gao
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  4. Yuanquan Chen
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  5. Peng Sui
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Correspondence to Yuanquan Chen or Peng Sui.

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Responsible editor: Zuoren Nie

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Yang, X., Sun, B., Gao, W. et al. Carbon footprints of grain-, forage-, and energy-based cropping systems in the North China plain. Int J Life Cycle Assess 24, 371–385 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-018-1481-5

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