Progress report: quantification of carbon sequestration trough conservation agriculture in the mexican bajío

In the Bajío region CIMMYT operates an innovation hub that investigates, validates, demonstrates and promotes conservation agriculture, amongst other sustainable practices(Monjardino et al., 2021). In the hubs there are research platforms, where conservation agriculture is studied under a scientific design, and modules and extension areas where conservation agriculture is evaluated at the field scale (Gardeazabal et al., 2021). In the Bajío,there are currently 9 research platforms, with different experimental treatments and different times under conservation agriculture (Fonteyne et al., 2021). Therefore, these research platforms are ideal to quantify carbon sequestration with conservation agriculture in the region. Additionally, the farmers’ fields in the hub with conservation agriculture allow to validate the carbon sequestration determined in the research platforms under field conditions. In 2022, CIMMYT initiated the soil sampling in the research platforms and farmers’ fields to generate the database that will be used to derive a model of carbon sequestration by conservation agriculture in the Mexican Bajío. In the research platforms soil is sampled per plot from 0 to 30 cm and from 30 to 60 cm depth. Two soil cores are taken per experimental plot to determine bulk density. The soil samples are analyzed by Fertilab soil laboratory (Celaya, Guanajuato). Apart from soil organic matter, pH, nitrate, phosphorus and potassium concentration are measured and soil texture is determined using the Bouyoucos method.