Project: Soil management effects on soil organic matter properties and carbon sequestration

Acronym	SOMPACS (Reference Number: 7)
Duration	01/07/2022 - 20/06/2025
Project Topic	The objectives of the SOMPACS are to disclose management practices enriching soils with the organic matter pools which are most resistant to microbial decomposition. For this purpose, soil samples from eight long-term field experiments with different soil management and cultivation systems (conventional tillage vs. no-tillage; mineral vs. organic fertilization; management with and without catch crop; arable land vs. grassland; and cultivated vs. noncultivated soils are investigated. Field experiments include trials of increasing duration: 22-year (Lithuania; 26-year (Italy; 30-year (Poland, Ireland; 46-year (Poland; 54-year (Lithuania; 100-year (Poland and 178-year Broadbalk experiment (UK. Experiments are also conducted on production fields, where additives stimulating the root growth (commercial humic products, biochar and biogas digestate have been applied. The effects of these additives on the SOM content and yield are investigated also in plots of the selected long-term field experiments, as well as incubation studies on microbial decomposition of SOM and these additives. In all field experiments plant productivity is analyzed and carbon stock to the depth of 1 m is evaluated. Additionally, the following investigations of SOM based on the state-of-the-art approaches are conducted: composition and stability of SOM by Py-GC-MS; aggregate size classes and C pools of increasing physico-chemical protection; microbiological properties (community level physiological profiling, selected functional genes involved in C and N cycles, microbiome and mycobiome analyses via next generation sequencing, genetic diversity using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism; analysis of δ13C and δ15N of the separated SOM pools; enzymatic activity; soil water retention and soil water repellency; mineral composition of clay fraction; soil structure stability. The most recalcitrant SOM pool (humin are isolated by different methods (extraction vs. separation in stable state and examined for chemical composition and structure, using spectrometric and spectroscopic techniques (mass spectrometry, NMR, FTIR, EPR, UV-Vis-NIR, fluorescence. Cold water extractable C are determined to assess the potential C leaching and CO2 emissions from soil are measured directly under field conditions. The results obtained will be considered to link the humanistic.legal.socio-economic dimension of bringing natural sciences knowledge into the policy.
Network	EJP SOIL
Call	1st EJP SOIL external call for proposals

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences	Coordinator	Poland
2	Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II	Partner	Germany
3	Grupa Producentów Rolnych TERRA sp. z o.o.	Partner	Germany
4	Rothamsted Research	Partner	United Kingdom
5	University of Wyoming	Partner	Poland
6	West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin	Partner	Poland
7	University of Wrocław	Partner	United States
8	Warsaw University of Life Science SGGW	Partner	Poland
9	Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences	Partner	Poland
10	Vytautas Magnus University	Partner	Poland
11	University of Goettingen	Partner	Ireland
12	University of Rostock	Partner	Italy
13	Univeresity of Limerick	Partner	Lithuania