Steve W. Culman

Increased food and ecosystem security via perennial grains

Perennial grains hold promise, especially for marginal landscapes or with limited resources where annual versions struggle. Despite doubling of yields of major grain crops since the 1950s, more than one in seven people suffer from malnutrition (1). Global population is growing; demand for food, especially meat, is increasing; much land most suitable for annual crops is already in use; and production of nonfood goods (e.g., biofuels) increasingly competes with food production for land (2). The best lands have soils at low or moderate risk of degradation under annual grain production but make up only 12.6% of global land area (16.5 million km2) (3). Supporting more than 50% of world population is another 43.7 million km2 of marginal lands (33.5% of global land area), at high risk of degradation under annual grain production but otherwise capable of producing crops (3). Global food security depends on annual grains—cereals, oilseeds, and legumes—planted on almost 70% of croplands, which combined supply a similar portion of human calories (4, 5). Annual grain production, though, often compromises essential ecosystem services, pushing some beyond sustainable boundaries (5). To ensure food and ecosystem security, farmers need more options to produce grains under different, generally less favorable circumstances than those under which increases in food security were achieved this past century. Development of perennial versions of important grain crops could expand options.

Perennial grain on a Midwest Alfisol shows no sign of early soil carbon gain

Perennial grain crops are expected to sequester soil carbon (C) and improve soil health due to their large and extensive root systems. To examine the rate of initial soil C accumulation in a perennial grain crop, we compared soil under perennial intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) with that under annual winter wheat 4 years after the crops were first planted. In addition, we tested the effect of three nitrogen (N) sources on C pools: Low available N (Low N (Organic N); 90 kg N ha −1 poultry litter), moderately available N (Mid N; 90 kg N ha −1 urea) and high available N (High N; 135 kg N ha −1 urea). We measured aboveground C (grain + straw), and coarse and fine root C to a depth of 1 m. Particulate organic matter (POM-C), fractionated by size, was used to indicate labile and more stabilized soil C pools. At harvest, IWG had 1.9 times more straw C and up to 15 times more root C compared with wheat. There were no differences in the size of the large (6 mm–250 µm) or medium (250–53 µm) POM-C fractions between wheat and IWG ( P > 0.05) in surface horizons (0–10 cm). Large POM-C under IWG ranged from 3.6 ± 0.3 to 4.0 ± 0.7 g C kg soil −1 across the three N rates, similar to wheat under which large POM-C ranged from 3.6 ± 1.4 to 4.7 ± 0.7 g C kg soil −1 . Averaged across N level, medium POM-C was 11.1 ± 0.8 and 11.3 ± 0.7 g C kg soil −1 for IWG and wheat, respectively. Despite IWGs greater above and belowground biomass (to 70 cm), POM-C fractions in IWG and wheat were similar. Post-hoc power analysis revealed that in order to detect differences in the labile C pool at 0–10 cm with an acceptable power (~80%) a 15% difference would be required between wheat and IWG. This demonstrates that on sandy soils with low cation exchange capacity, perennial IWG will need to be in place for longer than 4 years in order to detect an accumulated soil C difference > 15%.

Absolute values and precision of emerging soil health indicators as affected by soil sieve size

ABSTRACT Permanganate-oxidizable carbon (POXC), mineralizable carbon (C), and protein are rapid and inexpensive soil health indicators, which focus on the fast-cycling labile soil organic matter. We tested the effect of soil processing (sieve size) on measured values and analytical variability (i.e., precision) of each indicator. Soil samples were hand-sieved to < 8-mm, < 2-mm, or ground to pass through a 2-mm sieve. Mean values of POXC, protein and mineralizable C were higher in < 2-mm than in either ground or < 8-mm soils. Soils sieved to < 8-mm were significantly more likely than either < 2-mm or ground soils to result in higher analytical variability of POXC and protein, but sieve size did not affect the analytical variability of mineralizable C. These results collectively demonstrate that the use of larger size fractions like 8-mm sieved soils for measuring POXC and protein not only leads to lower absolute values, but also increases analytical variability and therefore minimize their precision.