Carbon sequestration in vegetable crops

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Quantifies carbon sequestration rates in vegetable systems and reviews management impacts, offering baseline data for further study.

🏢実務担当者:Provides evidence-based practices (organic farming, biochar) to enhance soil carbon storage in vegetable crops.

🏛政策担当者:Supports integration of vegetable cropping into carbon farming programs and climate policy frameworks.

Climate change, primarily driven by escalating greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, poses an existential threat to global food security and ecosystem stability. Carbon sequestration - the biological, geological and technological capture of atmospheric CO₂ - has been identified as a critical mitigation strategy. Vegetable crops, characterized by rapid growth rates, high photosynthetic efficiency, intensive cultivation cycles and substantial below-ground biomass inputs, represent an underexplored yet significant natural carbon sink within agricultural systems. This review comprehensively examines (i) the mechanisms of carbon sequestration in vegetable cropping systems, including photosynthetic carbon fixation, root exudation and residue decomposition; (ii) the major types of carbon sequestration (terrestrial, geological, oceanic, technological and industrial); (iii) key soil-plant factors influencing soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and (iv) evidence-based management practices such as organic farming, biochar application, conservation tillage and integrated nutrient management that enhance SOC stocks in vegetable systems. Empirical data from multiple field studies demonstrate that vegetable crops can sequester 91.79-3,095.99 kg C ha⁻¹ season⁻¹ in plant biomass, while management interventions can increase SOC sequestration by 1.18-5.48 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Organic vegetable farming systems store 24.52% more SOC than conventional systems and biochar application at 40 Mg ha⁻¹ increases SOC content by up to 35.8%. Carbon markets and climate policy frameworks provide economic incentives for adopting sequestration-enhancing practices. Integrating vegetable cropping systems into climate-smart agriculture represents a viable, multi-functional pathway toward achieving net-zero emission goals and sustainable food production.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.33545/26174693.2026.v10.i7sj.9105first seen 2026-07-19 05:06:25