Carbon footprint of maize-wheat cropping system after 40-year fertilization

Two main challenges which human society faces for sustainable development goals are the maintenance of food security and mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here, we examined the impacts of six fertilization treatments including unfertilized control (CK), mineral nitrogen (N, 90 kg N ha−1), mineral N plus 30 kg P ha−1 phosphorus (NP), NP combined with 3.75 Mg ha−1 straw (NP + Str), farmyard manure (Man, 75 Mg ha−1), and NP combined with manure (NP + Man) on crop productivity and carbon emissions (soil GHG emission; GHGI, yield-based GHG intensity; NGHGB, net GHG balance; carbon footprint, CF) in a maize-wheat cropping system during two years (April 2018–June 2020) in a semi-arid continental climate after 40 years of fertilization in the Northwest China. Manure and straw increased total GHG by 38–60 % compared to the mineral fertilizers alone, which was mainly due to the 49–80 % higher direct emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) rather than nitrous oxide (N2O). Compared to the N fertilizer alone, organic amendments and NP increased cumulative energy yield by 134–202 % but decreased GHGI by 38–55 %, indicating that organic fertilizers increased crop productivity at the cost of higher GHG emissions. When the soil organic carbon changes (ΔSOC) were accounted for in the C emission balance, manure application acted as a net C sink due to the NGHGB recorded with −123 kg CO2-eq ha−1 year−1. When producing the same yield and economic benefits, the manure and straw addition decreased the CF by 59–85 % compared to N fertilization alone. Overall, the transition from mineral to organic fertilization in the semi-arid regions is a two-way independent solution to increase agricultural productivity along with the reduction of C emissions.