Publications by authors named "Riikka Keskinen"

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is in the focus of research due to its central role in regulating climate and maintaining fertility and resilience of soils. Methodologically, shifting from whole soil C measurements to specific SOC fractions increases possibility to detect small changes in the vast SOC storage, and enhances estimation of SOC stability. However, SOC fractionation schemes are numerous and variable.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sequestering carbon into agricultural soils is considered as a means of mitigating climate change. We used agronomic soil test results representing c. 95% of the farmed land area in Finland to estimate the potential of the uppermost 15 cm soil layer of mineral agricultural soils to sequester organic carbon (OC) and to contribute to the mitigation of climate change.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - One-fourth of global soil organic carbon (SOC) is found in the boreal region, which is experiencing rapid climate change that could lead to increased carbon dioxide emissions from soil, further worsening global warming.
  • - A study using data from Finland revealed that SOC content in the topsoil has decreased by 0.35% per year, primarily due to rising summer temperatures and increased precipitation, with high certainty about these connections.
  • - Although better agricultural management practices can help boost SOC levels, the study suggests they are unlikely to fully offset the SOC losses caused by climate change, emphasizing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate warming.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A substantial percentage of manure nitrogen (N) can be lost as gaseous ammonia (NH) during storage and field spreading. Lowering slurry pH is a simple and accepted method for preserving its N. Efficiency of slow pyrolysis liquid (PL) produced from birch (Betula sp.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Short-term agronomic and environmental benefits are fundamental factors in encouraging farmers to use biochar on a broad scale. The short-term impacts of forest residue biochar (BC) on the productivity and carbon (C) storage of arable boreal clay soil were studied in a field experiment. In addition, rain simulations and aggregate stability tests were carried out to investigate the potential of BC to reduce nutrient export to surface waters.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF