Orchard and horticulture systems in Spanish Mediterranean coastal areas: Is there a real possibility to contribute to C sequestration?

Results indicate that the most promising practice, considered as a single measure and with respect to the baseline, was introducing cover crops in woody cropping systems. This practice resulted in an increase of 0.44 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 during the first 20 years (range 0.41-0.52 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) and led to a total SOC accumulation of about 30 Tg C after 100 years. Amendment of all agricultural land with available underutilized EOM resulted in an increase of up to 0.09 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 (range 0.07-0.16 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) as a single measure (urban waste) and 0.13 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 (range 0.11-0.21 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) as a combined measure (urban waste and composted agroindustry by-products), leading to a total SOC accumulation of about 7 Tg C (urban waste) and 10 Tg C (urban waste and composted agroindustry by-products) after 100 years. Manure anaerobic digestion or composting as a single measure did not result in significant SOC changes but, if GHG emissions and savings from manure storage and processing management stages are considered, they could help to reduce about 4.3 (anaerobic digestion) or 1.1 Tg CO2eq yr−1 (composting) in the study area, which represents a significant amount compared with total agricultural emissions in Spain.