Can soils handle stover removal for ethanol?

COLUMBUS – Removing corn stover for use in ethanol production decreases the amount of carbon stored in the soil, and has an adverse impact on overall soil fertility and crop development, according to Ohio State University research.
Humberto Blanco, a research scientist with the School of Environment and Natural Resources within the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, analyzed the implications of corn stover removal on crop production and soil and environmental quality in long-term no-till fields.
Losses. He found that as more residue is removed, the greater the loss of soil carbon and crop yields and the more biological processes are compromised.
“There is a linear relationship between corn stover removal and carbon found in the soil. As more residue is removed, the less soil carbon is available,” said Blanco, who is also part of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.
His study, Soil and crop response to harvesting corn residues for biofuel production, found that as ethanol demand increases, turning to corn as a source of energy is becoming more common. But little is known about the impacts of residue removal on carbon sequestration, crop production, soil fertility and water quality.
Purpose. “The purpose of the study is to determine the maximum amount of corn stover that we can remove before the process adversely impacts crop yields, and soil and environmental quality,” said Blanco.
“The threshold levels of stover removal as biofuel feedstocks have not been well defined in the Corn Belt.”
Over three years, Blanco removed corn stover at different rates at three Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center sites in Ohio: the North Appalachian Experimental Watersheds in Coschocton, the Northwestern Agricultural Experiment Station in Hoytville and the Western Agricultural Experiment Station in South Charleston.
He suggested the impact of corn stover removal is dependent upon soil and terrain characteristics, such as clay content, drainage and slope gradient.
Soil impact. “Corn stover removal had more of an adverse impact in silt-loam soils on undulating terrains than in clay soils on flat terrain,” said Blanco.
“Sloping and erosion-prone soils are impacted the greatest, which suggest that those types of land should not be targeted for residue-removal, or just a fraction of stover might be available for removal.”
Removal rates of more than 25 percent from sloping soils significantly reduced soil carbon concentrations, while as much as 75 percent of corn stover might be removed from clay soils over three to five years before having a negative impact on soil carbon content.
Thus, in sloping lands and erodible soils, only about 25 percent of corn stover could be removed without affecting soil or environmental quality.
Blanco also found that large-scale removal of corn stover has an adverse impact on earthworm populations and crop yields. Earthworms are important to soil fertility and water and air movement in the soil.