This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.

Unclaimed
Goaitske Iepema
University of Applied Sciences Van Hall Larenstein Leeuwarden the Netherlands

Honors and Awards

The user has no records in this section


Career Timeline

The user has no records in this section.


Short Biography

The user biography is not available.
Following
Followers
Co Authors
The list of users this user is following is empty.
Following: 0 users

Feed

Original article
Published: 20 May 2021 in European Journal of Soil Science
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Permanent grassland soils can act as a sink for carbon and may therefore positively contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. We compared young (5–15 years since latest grassland renewal) with old (>20 years since latest grassland renewal) permanent grassland soils in terms of carbon stock, carbon sequestration, drought tolerance and flood resistance. The research was carried out on marine clay soil at 10 dairy farms with young and old permanent grassland. As hypothesized, the carbon stock was larger in old grassland (62 Mg C ha−1) topsoil (0–10 cm) than in young grassland topsoil (51 Mg C ha−1). The carbon sequestration rate was greater in young (on average 3.0 Mg C ha−1 year−1) compared with old grassland (1.6 Mg C ha−1 year−1) and determined by initial carbon stock. Regarding potential drought tolerance, we found larger soil moisture and soil organic matter (SOM) contents in old compared with young grassland topsoils. As hypothesized, the old grassland soils were more resistant to heavy rainfall as measured by water infiltration rate and macroporosity (at 20 cm depth) in comparison with the young grassland soils. In contrast to our hypothesis we did not find a difference in rooting between young and old permanent grassland, probably due to large variability in root biomass and root tip density. We conclude that old grasslands at dairy farms on clay soil can contribute more to the ecosystem services climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation than young grasslands. This study shows that under real farm conditions on a clay topsoil, carbon stock increases with grassland age and even after 30 years carbon saturation has not been reached. Further study is warranted to determine by how much extending grassland age can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Highlights We studied the effect of young versus old grassland on a range of soil properties related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Old, more than young, grassland soils offer potential to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This finding gives farmers insight into the merits of extending grassland age on clay soils. Soil carbon stock determines carbon sequestration rate more than grassland age.

ACS Style

Goaitske Iepema; Nyncke J. Hoekstra; Ron de Goede; Jaap Bloem; Lijbert Brussaard; Nick van Eekeren. Extending grassland age for climate change mitigation and adaptation on clay soils. European Journal of Soil Science 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Goaitske Iepema, Nyncke J. Hoekstra, Ron de Goede, Jaap Bloem, Lijbert Brussaard, Nick van Eekeren. Extending grassland age for climate change mitigation and adaptation on clay soils. European Journal of Soil Science. 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Goaitske Iepema; Nyncke J. Hoekstra; Ron de Goede; Jaap Bloem; Lijbert Brussaard; Nick van Eekeren. 2021. "Extending grassland age for climate change mitigation and adaptation on clay soils." European Journal of Soil Science , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 25 March 2020 in Sustainability
Reads 0
Downloads 0

Renewing agricultural grasslands for improved yields and forage quality generally involves eliminating standing vegetation with herbicides, ploughing and reseeding. However, grassland renewal may negatively affect soil quality and related ecosystem services. On clay soil in the north of the Netherlands, we measured grass productivity and soil chemical parameters of ‘young’ (5–15 years since last grassland renewal) and ‘old’ (>20 years since last grassland renewal) permanent grasslands, located as pairs at 10 different dairy farms. We found no significant difference with old permanent grassland in herbage dry matter yield and fertilizer nitrogen (N) response, whereas herbage N yield was lower in young permanent grassland. Moreover, the young grassland soil contained less soil organic matter (SOM), soil organic carbon (C) and soil organic N compared to the old grassland soil. Grass productivity was positively correlated with SOM and related parameters such as soil organic C, soil organic N and potentially mineralizable N. We conclude that on clay soils with 70% desirable grasses (i.e., Lolium perenne and Phleum pratense) or more, the presumed yield benefit of grassland renewal is offset by a loss of soil quality (SOM and N-total). The current practice of renewing grassland after 10 years without considering the botanical composition, is counter-productive and not sustainable.

ACS Style

Goaitske Iepema; Joachim G. C. Deru; Jaap Bloem; Nyncke Hoekstra; Ron De Goede; Lijbert Brussaard; Nick Van Eekeren. Productivity and Topsoil Quality of Young and Old Permanent Grassland: An On-Farm Comparison. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2600 .

AMA Style

Goaitske Iepema, Joachim G. C. Deru, Jaap Bloem, Nyncke Hoekstra, Ron De Goede, Lijbert Brussaard, Nick Van Eekeren. Productivity and Topsoil Quality of Young and Old Permanent Grassland: An On-Farm Comparison. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (7):2600.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Goaitske Iepema; Joachim G. C. Deru; Jaap Bloem; Nyncke Hoekstra; Ron De Goede; Lijbert Brussaard; Nick Van Eekeren. 2020. "Productivity and Topsoil Quality of Young and Old Permanent Grassland: An On-Farm Comparison." Sustainability 12, no. 7: 2600.