Carbon dioxide emissions from reed canary grass during two growing seasons after restoration of an abandoned agricultural peat soil

Abstract

Reed canary grass (RCG) can be a suitable energy crop on abandoned agricultural peatland as it can be harvested for more than 10 years without re-establishment, and nutrient recycling to rhizomes lowers the fertilizer demand. A field near Malå in Sweden was restored by improving drainage and sowing RCG in 2010. In the first growing season, CO₂ emissions from the soil were lower and groundwater level and soil water content higher for the RCG field than for a nearby unrestored field. Possible reasons were peat compaction by agricultural machinery in the restored field and higher transpiration and respiration from vegetation in the unrestored field. In the second growing season, the groundwater level was raised in some restored plots and CO₂ emissions and RCG growth were found to be unaffected by this practice.

Keywords:

• Groundwater level
• pipe drainage
• soil respiration

Acknowledgements

This work was made within the project Bioenergigårdar i ett nytt landskap where the research and development part was financed by Kempestiftelserna, Swedish University of Agricultural Science, and European Regional Development Fund.