Impact of Water Management and Land Use Practices on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from an Intensively Farmed Bog Grassland in Northwest Germany

Bog peatlands in northwestern Germany release high amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most of these bogs were drained, resulting in intensively used grasslands primarily for dairy production. While dairy production is economically highly important in the region drained bogs with intensive grassland use show high CO₂ emissions. To reduce GHG-emissions from intensively managed grasslands on bogs used for dairy production, the GreenMoor project investigates the effects of different water management approaches, such as such as subsurface irrigation and ditch blocking, as well as different usage practices including different fertilization intensities and pasture or cutting regimes. With a unique and expansive setup, we investigate the full GHG-balance of these different variants using manual chambers. We aim to present preliminary results from the first project phase including preliminary GHG-balances and an outlook on the potential success of different management approaches to reduce GHG-balances from drained intensively used bogs.