CEREAL RESIDUES IN SOIL-WATER MANAGEMENT

References: 17th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2017, www.sgem.org, SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7408-09-6 / ISSN 1314-2704, 29 June - 5 July, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 52, 137-144 pp, DOI: 10.5593/sgem2017/52/S20.018

ABSTRACT

We live in the interglacial period that is causing warming effect on the Earth´s climate reflected in water scarcity. Water is an essential substance in agricultural production. Therefor appropriate management is necessary to achieve sustainability. Material flow analysis (MFA) provides an overview of the system by linking the anthroposphere with the environment, and can highlight environmental or resource issue problems. Thus MFA can be used as a tool of material management. We applied partial MFA for quantifying cereals production in Slovakia (SK) and China (CN) in 2010. This study is aimed at cereal (wheat, barley, oats, triticale, rice, grain) biomass quantification according to the different categories (yields, harvest and root residues) focusing on root residues that after harvest partially contribute to water accumulation in soil. In 2010, in SK was produced 7,011 kt of the total biomass of cereals was produced, of which 3,108 kt (44%) created yield, 2,222 kt (20%) used, 636 kt (9%) unused, and 1,045 kt (15%) root residues. Harvest residues together created 2,858 kt. In CN, 1,266,065 kt of the total biomass of cereals was produced, of which 498,468 kt (39%) created yield, 376,333 kt (30%) used, 196,203 kt (15%) unused, and 195,062 kt (15%) root residues.Based on the assumption that cereal root residues contain at least 10 % of water, they can contribute to soil water stock by 0.15 t.ha-1 in SK and 0.21 t.ha-1 in CN. The results indicate the importance of root residues management also as a part of the water management in agriculture.

Keywords: cereal, biomass, material flow analysis, root residue, soil water stock