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    Quantifying soil carbon stocks and humification through spectroscopic methods: a scoping assessment in EMBU-Kenya

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    S19ArtSegniniQuantifyingInthomDev.pdf (1.791Mb)
    Date
    2019-03-15
    Author
    Segnini, A.
    Posadas, A.
    Silva, W.T.L. da
    Milori, D.M.
    Gavilan, C.
    Claessens, Lieven
    Quiroz, R.
    Type
    Journal Article
    Target Audience
    Scientists
    Metadata
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    Abstract/Description
    A soil carbon assessment was performed comparing agricultural cropping systems with natural vegetation along a sampling transect spanning different agro-ecologies on the eastern foot slopes of Mount Kenya in Embu county, 125 km from Nairobi, Kenya. The aim was to determine differences in soil carbon stocks and carbon recalcitrance and relate these to soil textural class, altitude, climatic parameters and land use. Soils from main agricultural systems as tea, coffee and maize-based intercropping, as well as from natural vegetation cover were sampled in triplicates, in five layers from 0 to 30 cm in depth and processed for total carbon analysis. The whole soil samples were also analysed using Laser-Induced Fluorescence Spectroscopy (LIFS) to assess carbon humification. Prototype portable equipment intended for future in situ analysis was used in the lab to ascertain the structure of the most recalcitrant and stable carbon present in different agro-ecosystems. In addition, Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) was tested for the quantitative analysis of soil carbon, showing that it is a reproducible and low-cost method that provided satisfactory results under the processing conditions of the samples. Results showed wide variation in the level and quality of carbon stored in the soils, depending on soil texture, land use, elevation, climate, agricultural practices and land use history. Considering the heterogeneous nature of sampled soils and the performance of NIRS and LIFS, these results can be used as a basis for the development of fully portable systems able to provide rapid, clean and potentially cost-effective relevant information for soil management.
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.12.108
    Multi standard citation
    Permanent link to this item
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12478/5209
    Non-IITA Authors ORCID
    Lieven Claessenshttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2961-8990
    Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.12.108
    Research Themes
    NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
    IITA Subjects
    Agronomy; Crop Systems; Natural Resource Management
    Agrovoc Terms
    Agricultural; Cropping Systems; Mont; Kenya; Andosols; Nitisols; Soil; Carbon; Stocks; Spectroscopy
    Regions
    Africa; East Africa
    Countries
    Kenya
    Journals
    Journal of Environmental Management
    Collections
    • Journal and Journal Articles4835
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