TITLE OF THESIS: Carbon Footprints and Sustainable Solutions for Potato Cultivation on Prince Edward Island

ABSTRACT: Soil organic matter (SOM) is pivotal in sustainable agriculture, soil health, and crop productivity. This study evaluated twelve cover crops and three soil amendments for their use in sustainable and environmentally friendly farming. The specific objectives were to i) examine the effect of various cover crops on accumulation of SOM under controlled conditions, ii) investigate the performance of the four selected cover crops with different tillage methods to improve soil health under field conditions of Prince Edward Island (PEI), and iii) explore the impact of organic and inorganic soil amendments on carbon sequestration, soil health parameters, and CO2 emissions from soils of PEI under long-term potato cultivation.

The shortlisted four cover crops from a preliminary greenhouse trial were incorporated into the soil with various tillage methods commonly practiced in PEI. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the highest percentage of SOM content (3.01%) was produced by the mix cover crop (hairy vetch, crimson clover & annual ryegrass) treatment, followed by buckwheat (2.96%) and brown mustard (2.88%). The timothy cover crop produced the lowest SOM content, which was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different and lower from the SOM produced by the mix cover crop treatment. However, there was no significant (p > 0.05) effect of crop residue incorporation methods on SOM.  With regards to the effects of the soil amendments on carbon sequestration, soil health, soil CO2 emissions, and mixed trends were recorded. For example, carbon sequestration and cation exchange capacity of the soil were highly significantly different (p ≤ 0.01); whereas, soil pH, boron, and sodium were significantly different (p ≤ 0.05), and the rest of the soil health parameters were not significantly (p > 0.05) different in  the experimental treatment soils. Specifically, the compost amendment produced significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher SOM than biochar, synthetic fertilizer, and control treatments. The control treatment soil (that had no soil amendments) produced the highest and significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different CO2 emissions during the study period, except for one afternoon, from the rest of the soil amendments. Findings of this research can be used to formulate sustainable and environmentally friendly best management practices for potato cultivation in PEI.

The presentation will be presented via a web conference.  Anyone who wishes to attend the public presentation please RSVP to gsc@upei.ca to receive the link to the meeting.