Assessing soil carbon storage rates under no-tillage: Comparing the synchronic and diachronic approaches

• We compute rates of soil C accumulation under no-tillage management.
• We compare both the synchronic and diachronic approach.
• More moderate rates of soil C accumulation were observed diachronically.
• Results suggest that diachronic approach might be more conservative.

No-tillage (NT) practices with crop residue mulching are seen as an effective way to accumulate soil carbon (C). The rate of soil C accumulation can be determined by measuring soil C stocks over time (diachronic approach) or along a chronosequence that substitutes spatial history differences for time differences (synchronic approach). The objective of this communication is to compare the diachronic and synchronic approaches for determining the rates of soil C storage under NT in the Cerrado region of Brazil. In 2003 and 2007, soil C stocks (0–20 cm) were determined in three NT fields with 5, 9 and 17 years of NT adoption in 2007 (NT-5, NT-9 and NT-17, respectively), one conventionally tilled field (CT, 30 years of tillage in 2007) and one native Cerrado plot (CE) in Rio Verde (Goiás state, Brazil). Soil C accumulation rates were calculated following both the synchronic and diachronic approach. Results from the synchronic approach showed that 30 years of cropping under CT depleted the soil C stock to 34.4 Mg C ha−1, which is a decrease of about 27% of the original levels observed under the native vegetation (CE, 47.1 and 47.3 Mg C ha−1, respectively, in 2003 and 2007). Instead, NT adoption had been accumulating soil C through the evaluated years. Soil C stocks measured under NT areas in 2003 and 2007 were 29.9 and 31.3 Mg C ha−1 (NT-5), 33.4 and 34.4 Mg C ha−1 (NT-9) and 45.8 and 46.4 Mg C ha−1 (NT-17), respectively. Much more moderate rates of soil C accumulation were observed diachronically (0.12–0.28 Mg C ha−1 year−1) than with the synchronic approach (1.33 and 1.27 Mg C ha−1 year−1 in 2003 and 2007, respectively). Soil C stocks under CE between 2003 and 2007 (in the diachronic approach) did not change, indicating that diachronic measurements were accurate. Thus, it appears to be very difficult to eliminate all non-wanted sources of soil C variation (i.e. soil texture, land-use history) analysing the soil C accumulation in a chronosequence (synchronic approach). In spite of a time span of years between sampling dates, our results suggest the need for using the diachronic approach when assessing soil C changes under altering land-use or management patterns. Increasing the number of diachronic assessments may also help the parameterization of process-oriented models for exploring the effects of no-tillage systems on soil C storage rates more accurately.