Land Institute and Colorado State University researchers conducted field studies looking at how soil organic carbon in fields under Kernza® compared to fields under annual grains to understand how soil carbon is sequestered at depth on working farms. Findings indicate that Kernza can facilitate long-term carbon storage in soils.

Abstract

Conversion from annual to perennial grains such as intermediate wheatgrass Kernza^® could sequester soil organic carbon (SOC). To date, no studies have quantified SOC under Kernza on working farms. We sampled three sites with paired fields under annual grains and converted to Kernza 5–17 years ago to 100 cm and compared their SOC stocks as distributed between mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) and particulate organic matter (POM). POM-C was higher under Kernza cultivation but total and MAOM-C were similar. Our findings suggest that Kernza increases SOC at depth as POM. Further study is needed to assess whether this will result in long-term SOC sequestration.