Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India

Regenerative agriculture (RA) is heralded as a transformative solution to combat climate change, enhance biodiversity, and improve soil health. However, its effectiveness across diverse agro-climatic contexts remains underexplored. This meta-analysis synthesizes results from 147 peer-reviewed studie...

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Autores principales: Patil, Mukund, Perumal, Cuba, Choudhari, Pushpajeet L., Pasumarthi, Rajesh, Sawargaonkar, Gajanan, Singh, Ramesh
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Springer Nature 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179231
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author Patil, Mukund
Perumal, Cuba
Choudhari, Pushpajeet L.
Pasumarthi, Rajesh
Sawargaonkar, Gajanan
Singh, Ramesh
author_browse Choudhari, Pushpajeet L.
Pasumarthi, Rajesh
Patil, Mukund
Perumal, Cuba
Sawargaonkar, Gajanan
Singh, Ramesh
author_facet Patil, Mukund
Perumal, Cuba
Choudhari, Pushpajeet L.
Pasumarthi, Rajesh
Sawargaonkar, Gajanan
Singh, Ramesh
author_sort Patil, Mukund
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Regenerative agriculture (RA) is heralded as a transformative solution to combat climate change, enhance biodiversity, and improve soil health. However, its effectiveness across diverse agro-climatic contexts remains underexplored. This meta-analysis synthesizes results from 147 peer-reviewed studies across India’s major agro-ecological and agro-climatic regions. Using a random-effects model, we estimate the soil organic carbon (SOC) change attributable to a suite of RA practices, including organic amendments (farmyard manure, green manure, compost, and biochar), conservation tillage, crop residue retention, and fertilizer management. Biochar application resulted in the highest SOC gain, followed by farmyard manure, green manure, compost, and fertilizer management. Conservation tillage and crop residue retention demonstrated moderate, yet consistent, carbon benefits across time scales. The SOC gains were most significant over durations exceeding five years and varied across agro-ecological regions, with semi-arid and sub-humid regions showing particularly strong responses. The findings affirm that RA practices effectively sequester carbon, particularly when applied over longer durations and in regionally adapted combinations.
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spelling CGSpace1792312025-12-24T02:01:19Z Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India Patil, Mukund Perumal, Cuba Choudhari, Pushpajeet L. Pasumarthi, Rajesh Sawargaonkar, Gajanan Singh, Ramesh regenerative agriculture meta-analysis crop residue carbon sequestration climate-change mitigation soil Regenerative agriculture (RA) is heralded as a transformative solution to combat climate change, enhance biodiversity, and improve soil health. However, its effectiveness across diverse agro-climatic contexts remains underexplored. This meta-analysis synthesizes results from 147 peer-reviewed studies across India’s major agro-ecological and agro-climatic regions. Using a random-effects model, we estimate the soil organic carbon (SOC) change attributable to a suite of RA practices, including organic amendments (farmyard manure, green manure, compost, and biochar), conservation tillage, crop residue retention, and fertilizer management. Biochar application resulted in the highest SOC gain, followed by farmyard manure, green manure, compost, and fertilizer management. Conservation tillage and crop residue retention demonstrated moderate, yet consistent, carbon benefits across time scales. The SOC gains were most significant over durations exceeding five years and varied across agro-ecological regions, with semi-arid and sub-humid regions showing particularly strong responses. The findings affirm that RA practices effectively sequester carbon, particularly when applied over longer durations and in regionally adapted combinations. 2025-09-29 2025-12-23T08:34:57Z 2025-12-23T08:34:57Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179231 en Open Access application/pdf Springer Nature Patil, Mukund; Perumal, Cuba; Choudhari, Pushpajeet L.; Pasumarthi, Rajesh; Sawargaonkar, Gajanan; and Singh, Ramesh. 2025. Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India. Sci Rep 15, 33470. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12149-6
spellingShingle regenerative agriculture
meta-analysis
crop residue
carbon sequestration
climate-change mitigation
soil
Patil, Mukund
Perumal, Cuba
Choudhari, Pushpajeet L.
Pasumarthi, Rajesh
Sawargaonkar, Gajanan
Singh, Ramesh
Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India
title Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India
title_full Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India
title_fullStr Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India
title_full_unstemmed Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India
title_short Differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon: a meta-analysis of studies from India
title_sort differential impacts of regenerative agriculture practices on soil organic carbon a meta analysis of studies from india
topic regenerative agriculture
meta-analysis
crop residue
carbon sequestration
climate-change mitigation
soil
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179231
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