Extensive grazing in contrast to mowing is climate-friendly based on
the farm-scale greenhouse gas balance
Péter Koncz
a,
*, Krisztina Pintér
b
, János Balogh
b
, Marianna Papp
a
, Dóra Hidy
a
,
Zsolt Csintalan
b
, Erik Molnár
c
, Albert Szaniszló
c
, Györgyi Kampfl
c
, László Horváth
d
,
Zoltán Nagy
a,b
a
MTA–SZIE Plant Ecology Research Group, Szent István University, Páter K. u. 1., 2100 GödöllÅ, Hungary
b
Szent István University, Institute of Botany and Ecophysiology, Páter K. u. 1., 2100 GödöllÅ, Hungary
c
Szent István University, Department of Chemistry, Páter K. u. 1., 2100 GödöllÅ, Hungary
d
Hungarian Meteorological Service, Gilice tér 39., 1181 Budapest, Hungary
A R T I C L E I N F O
Article history:
Received 7 June 2016
Received in revised form 16 February 2017
Accepted 17 February 2017
Available online xxx
Keywords:
Grassland management
Climate change mitigation
Carbon uptake
CH
4
N
2
O
CO
2
fluxes
A B S T R A C T
Livestock is both threatened by and contributing to climate change. The contribution of livestock to
climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission greatly vary under different management regimes. A
number of mitigation options comprise livestock management, although there are a lot of uncertainties
as to which management regime to use for a given pedoclimatic and farming system. Therefore, we 1)
tested if an extensive cattle livestock farm is a net sink or a net source for GHG (carbon–dioxide, CO
2
;
methane, CH
4
; nitrous oxide N
2
O) in Central–Eastern Europe, 2) compared the annual GHG balances
between the grazed and mowed treatments of the farm 3) and investigated the role of climate variability
in shaping these balances. Net ecosystem exchange of CO
2
(NEE) was measured with eddy covariance
technique in both the grazed and mowed treatments. Estimations of lateral C fluxes were based on
management data. Other GHG fluxes (CH
4
, N
2
O) were determined by chamber gas flux measurements
technique (in case of soil) and IPCC guidelines (in case of manure decomposition and animal
fermentation). Net greenhouse gas balance (NGHG) for the grazed treatment was 228 283 g CO
2
equivalent m
2
year
1
(net sink) and 475 144 g CO
2
equiv. m
2
year
1
(net source) for the mowed
treatment. Net source activity at the mowed treatment was due to its higher herbage use intensity
compared to the grazed treatment. At the farm scale the system was estimated to be a net sink for NGHG
in a year with wet (135 g CO
2
equiv. m
2
year
1
), while a net source in years with dry soil moisture
conditions (267 214 g CO
2
equiv. m
2
year
1
). We conclude that under a temperate continental
climate extended extensive grazing could serve as a potential mitigation of GHG in contrast to mowing.
Our study highlights the fact that livestock farming could create a net sink for GHG under proper
management regimes.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Livestock is not only threatened by climate change (IPCC, 2013;
Nardone et al., 2010), but it also contributes to it because the share
of livestock sector in total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission is estimated to be between 10–25% (IPCC, 2007;
Schwarzer, 2012; Gerber et al., 2013). Due to climate change the
frequency of drought, heat waves and other extreme weather
events (e.g. sudden rainfall) increased in temperate continental
climate (Bartholy and Pongracz, 2007; IPCC, 2013). Drought
decreases the productivity of grasslands, which support livestock
(Craine et al., 2012; Kanneganti and Kaffka, 1995; Thornton et al.,
2014; Zhang et al., 2010) and heat stress lowers meat and milk yield
of cattle (Gaughan, 2012; Gauly et al., 2013; Nardone et al., 2010).
Concurrently, livestock farming will need to supply an expected
20% increase in food demand between 2002 and 2050 under the
threats of climate change (Steinfeld et al., 2006; Foley et al., 2011).
Therefore, to maintain food security livestock farming has to adapt
to climate change while reducing its GHG emissions (Smith et al.,
2014). Decreasing GHG (carbon–dioxide, CO
2
; methane, CH
4
, and
nitrous oxide, N
2
O) emissions of livestock systems and increasing
carbon (C) sequestration of grasslands could be achieved by the
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: pkoncz@gmail.com (P. Koncz).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.02.022
0167-8809/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 240 (2017) 121–134
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