C R O P S T O I N D U S T R Y

Bio-physical Impacts of biomass crop management in Agriculture

Christine Heumesser and Erwin Schmid

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU)

C R O P S T O I N D U S T R Y

Objective

WP5: Sustainability Standards Task 5.1: geo-spatial bio-physical impact analysis D5.1. Maps of production indicators for selected non-food crops

for EU27 D5.2. Maps of environmental indicators for selected non-food

crops for EU27

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Data for bio-physical modeling in EU

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HRU delineatio

n

Slope Class:1. 0-3%2. 3-6%3. 6-10%4. 10-15%5. …

Altitude:1. < 300 m2. 300-600 m3. 600-1100 m4. >1100 m

Soil Texture:1. Coarse2. Medium3. Medium-fine4. Fine 5. Very fine

Soil Stoniness:1. Low content2. Medium content3. High content

Soil Depth:1. shallow2. medium3. deep

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PTF (Hyprese, pH, BD ...)

Data Processing

EPIC INPUT DATABASE for soil and topographic parameters

EPIC Simulations

Weather,Crop Rotation, and Crop Management

bio-physical Impacts

CORINE-PELCOM NUTS2-level

daily time steps

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Progress of Work: Bio-physical Impact Analysis

Food crop production systems in EU Major food/non-food crops (New Cronos) => crop rotation

systems by NUTS2 (presented in Athens) Other non-food crop production options in EU

Miscanthus (presented in Athens) Poplar coppice (presented in Athens) Reed Canary Grass (new)

Management Options Optimizing fertilization (rates and timing) by EPIC & max. 170

kg/ha (Nitrates Directive), currently for food crops only (new) Environmental Indicators

biomass yields, soil organic carbon (SOC), direct and indirect N2O-N emissions, nitrate leaching

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List of food/non food crops in the crop rotations

WWHT = winter wheat FPEA = field peas DWHT = durum wheat SGBT = sugar beets WRYE = winter rye RAPE = rape seeds SBAR = spring barley SUNF = sunflower seeds CORN = corn grain SOYB = soybeans OATS = oats FLAX = flax RICE = rice COTP = cotton CSIL = corn silage FALW = set aside POTA = potatoes GRCL = grass forages

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reed canary grass

Ø 5.1 t/hastd 1.1 t/ha Ø 88 kg/ha

Crop yields N fertilizer

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reed canary grass

Ø 65.1 t/ha Ø 0.7 kg/ha

Organic Carbon (in topsoil)

Nitrogen leaching (below sub-soil)

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reed canary grass

‘direct’ N2O-N emissions

‘indirect’ N2O-N emissions

Ø 2.3 kg/ha220 Gg

Ø 0.87 kg/ha84 Gg

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food crops

Ø 6.2 %

miscanthus

Ø 4.4 %

N2O-N emission /

N fertilizer

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poplar coppice reed canary grassN2O-N emission /N

fertilizer

Ø 11.9 % Ø 3.7 %

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Best Management Options Automatic N fertilization with respect to N stress level. Assumptions:

90% of the crop growth period are N stress free max. N 170 kg/ha

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Crop Yields N fertilizer

4.0 t/ha 111 kg/ha

Food cropsfor which fixed N-

fertilizer amounts are assumed by crop and

nuts2 region

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Organic Carbon (in topsoil)

60 t/ha 3.3 kg/ha

Nitrogen leaching (below sub-soil)

Food cropsFor which fixed N-

fertilizer amounts are assumed

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‘direct’ N2O-N emissions in kg/ha

‘indirect’ N2O-N emissions in kg/ha

5.5 kg/ha 0.97 kg/ha

Food cropsfor which fixed N-

fertilizer amounts are assumed

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Change in Crop Yields in %

Change N fertilizer in %

+7.5 % +9.6 %

Food crops

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Change in organic carbon in %

Change in N leaching in %

+0.5 % -8.8 %

Food crops

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Change in ‘direct’ N2O-N emissions in

%

Change in ‘indirect’ N2O-N emissions in %

-7.3 % +0.4 %

Food crops

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Plan for the next months

Work in progress ccTAME data infrastructe very soon available – EU27

coverage and climate change impact simulations possible Design of best management practices for perennial biomass

productions systems. Automatic N fertilization Automatic irrigation (similar to automatic N fertilization

assuming water stress threshold.