Slessarev et al. (2026): Assessing the Effect of a Deep-Rooted Grass on Belowground Carbon Storage in Cultivated Land: Insights From a Multi-Site US Study
Eric W. Slessarev, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Kyungjin Min, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Srabani Das, Randall D. Jackson, Julie D. Jastrow, Megan Kan, Sandeep Kumar, Todd Longbottom, Karis J. McFarlane, Erik Oerter, Brian K. Richards, G. Philip Robertson, Gregg R. Sanford, Erin E. Nuccio, IN: Earth’s Future, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF007102
Agriculture depletes soil organic carbon (SOC), partly due to the exclusion of deep-rooted perennials. Reintroducing deep-rooted perennials to cultivated land may help to mitigate SOC loss. The authors quantified the effect of deep roots on SOC by comparing 8 to 30 year-old stands of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) with paired annual row crop fields at 12 sites across the central and eastern USA. They hypothesized that switchgrass would store more root C and SOC than neighboring shallow-rooted annual crops, and that these effects would extend deeper than 30 cm. They also evaluated whether switchgrass stimulates decomposition of SOC at depth using radiocarbon (14C). Finally, they explored whether the effect of switchgrass on SOC is moderated by soil chemical and physical properties.