Soil organic amendments for climate-smart agriculture

Kok, D.D. (2024)

Doctoral Thesis

Organic amendments applied to agricultural fields can partially offset our carbon emissions to the atmosphere and improve the resilience of agriculture to the effects of climate change. Driving these benefits, however, are complex and poorly understood interactions between organic amendment properties, microbial communities and soil environmental conditions. In this thesis, I explore the impact of amendment decomposition on changes in soil microbial, chemical and physical properties to develop a better understanding of how different organic amendments can be utilized for sustainable soil management and climate-smart agriculture. Experimental results reveal a number of properties within amendments that are influential in driving efficient soil carbon accumulation, microbial biomass growth, and improving soil hydraulic and physical properties. We also demonstrate the impact of amendments on changes in the soil resilience to rapid temperature fluctuations and introduce the MiPrime model, a model for predicting soil carbon dynamics after applying organic amendments of different types. Through the work in this thesis, we hope to facilitate the design of more efficient and effective amendment application strategies.

• Carbon sequestration
• Priming effect
• Organic amendments
• Soil microbial community
• Sustainable soil management
• Infiltration capacity
• Water retention
• Aggregate stability
• Bulk density
• Microbial stress response

• All authors: Kok, D.D.
• Supervisor: Bodegom, P.M. van: Vries, W. de
• Co-supervisor: Scherer, L.
• Committee: Vijver, M.G.; Erisman, J.W.; Amelung, W.; Moinet, G.Y.; Hannula, S.E.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Faculty of Science, Leiden University
• Date: 2024-09-26
• ISBN (print): 9789464962048
• Sponsorship: Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant number NWO-GK-06), Leiden University CML Impact fund, Province of Gelderland (Provincie Gelderland), Vitens, Agricultural Landscape Collective Achterhoek (Vereniging Agrarisch Landschap Achterhoek), Foundation for Sustainable Agricultural Innovation Haarloseveld and Olden Eibergen (Stichting HOEduurzaam), the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management of the Netherlands (Rijkswaterstaat), Dutch Waste Management Association (DWMA), and the Netherlands Society for the Preservation of Nature Monuments (Natuurmonumenten)