Sustain Nordic soil health
Coordinator: Reidun Pommeresche, NORSØK, reidun.pommeresche@norsok.no
Period:
Carbon content and biological activity in meadow and potato soil (K-BEP)
The aim of the project is to study how meadow and potato cultivation affects carbon content and biological activity in sandy soils.
The project will estimate how 30 years of organic meadow cultivation have affected the carbon content of a silty sandy soil. Furthermore, we will check the short-term effect of a large supply of different organic materials (horse manure, solid digestate and biochar mixed with liquid digestate) on the carbon content and soil life of a sandy soil cultivated with potato with and without cover-crop. Can such “carbon boosting” be a relevant option to increase carbon stocks and improve soil health?
We will also study the sensitive of some biological soil health indicators. We will test and evaluate the suitability of two different computational tools to calculate carbon stocks in the agricultural soil. How large is the difference in soil carbon stock between meadow and potato production? How the soil’s carbon content changes over time? How the two production systems affect soil life? These issues will also be discussed by the project.