Soil greenhouse gas emissions from different land utilization types in Western Kenya

Introduction There is a vast data gap for the national and regional greenhouse gas (GHG) budget from different smallholder land utilization types in Kenya sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) at large. Quantifying soil GHG, i.e., methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions types, essential filling gap. Methods We quantified GHG Western Kenya. conducted 26-soil sampling campaign types. The five include 1) agroforestry M (agroforestry Markhamia lutea sorghum), 2) sole sorghum (sorghum monocrop), 3) L (Sorghum Leucaena leucocephala), 4) maize (maize 5) grazing land. Results discussion fluxes varied across all three GHGs (p ≤ 0.0001). observed lowest CH4 uptake under (−0.35 kg CH4–C ha−1) highest (−1.05 ha−1). recorded CO2 6,509.86 CO2–Cha−1 14,400.75 CO2–Cha−1. results showed N2O 0.69 N2O–N ha−1 2.48 ha−1. main drivers of were bulk density, organic carbon, moisture, clay content, root production. yield-scale ranged 0.35 g kg−1 to 4.90 grain yields L. Nevertheless, our findings on influence yield-scaled are within previous studies SSA, including Kenya, thus fundamental budget. pivotal policymakers developing low-carbon development smallholders farming systems.