Estimating Net Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Balances of Potato and Pea Crops on a Conventional Farm in Western Canada

Quantifying the emissions of the three main biogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4), from agroecosystems is crucial. In this study continuous measurements of N2O, and CH4 emissions from potato and pea crops in southwest British Columbia, Canada were made using the eddy-covariance (EC) technique. Flux footprint analysis, coupled with EC and manual nonsteady state chamber measurements, was used to address the spatial heterogeneity resulting from the field edge at the study site. Flux footprint corrections had a larger effect on N2O fluxes than CO2 fluxes because of a more pronounced difference in N2O fluxes between the crop and edge areas. After flux footprint corrections, the potato and pea crops were both weak CO2 sinks with annual net ecosystem exchange values of -57 +/- 9 and -97 +/- 16 g C m(-2) yr(-1), respectively. However, after taking carbon (C) export via crop harvest and C import via seeding into account, the potato crop shifted to being a moderate C source of 284 +/- 55 g C m(-2) yr(-1), while the pea crop became near C neutral, sequestering only 30 +/- 26 g C m(-2) yr(-1). Annual GHG balances, quantified by converting N2O and CH4 to CO2 equivalents as pulse emissions using respective global warming potentials on a 100-year timescale, were 417 +/- 88 and 152 +/- 106 g CO(2)e m(-2) yr(-1) for the potato and pea crops, respectively, with N2O contributing the largest proportion to annual total GHG balances and outweighing the CO2 uptake from the atmosphere.

Automated summary

This study used the eddy-covariance technique to continuously measure the emissions of three main biogenic greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O, and CH4) from potato and pea crops in southwest British Columbia, Canada. After flux footprint corrections, the potato and pea crops were found to be weak CO2 sinks. However, when taking carbon (C) export and import into account, the potato crop became a moderate C source, while the pea crop became near C neutral.