Soil Organic Carbon Storage in Australian Wheat Cropping Systems in Response to Climate Change from 1990 to 2060

Abstract

It is important to examine the effects of climate change on temporal variations in SOC storage, in order to optimize management practices for sustainable grain production. Using the denitrification–decomposition (DNDC) model to simulate biogeochemical processes in agro-ecosystems, SOC variability was evaluated in the Australian wheat cropping system from 1990 to 2060, under the Representative Concentration Pathway 85 (RCP85) climate change scenario. We analyzed the impacts of temperature and precipitation on SOC variability and further simulated six management scenarios for wheat cultivation over 71 years, which included wheat cropping under common nitrogen fertilizer (N-fertilizer) application rate (12 kg N/ha), adequate N-fertilizer application rate (50 kg N/ha), and legume–wheat rotation with N fertilizer application rates at 0, 12, and 50 kg N/ha. The results indicated that the DNDC model provided a good simulation of biogeochemical processes associated with wheat growth; the normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) of wheat yield was 15.16%, and the NRMSE of SOC was 13.21%. The SOC (0–30 cm) decreased from 3994.1 kg C/ha in 1990 to 2848.0 kg C/ha in 2060, an average decrease of 0.4% per year. Temperature and precipitation were the important factors affecting SOC storage, with contributions of 13% and 12%, respectively. Furthermore, adding a legume phase increased SOC and wheat yield in the low N-fertilizer scenario. In contrast, adding a legume phase in the adequate N-fertilizer scenario decreased SOC and wheat yield.