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Simulating Long-Term Effects of Trash Management on Sugarcane Yield for Brazilian Cropping Systems

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Abstract

Historically, trash has been burnt in Brazil. Recently, increasingly crops are being harvested green with trash retailed as blanket (GCTB) due to environmental restrictions, and because of the trash use as a feedstock for bioenergy. The presence of a trash blanket affects sugarcane crops, by conservation of soil moisture and a potential to increase soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). To gain insights into the impacts of the burnt-to-green cane trash blanket transition, a simulation study was conducted with the APSIM-Sugar crop model. Simulations were conducted over 100 years for 3 locations: Piracicaba-SP, Palmas-TO, and Maceió-AL, addressing 2 research questions: (1) what is the yield impact of the transition from burnt to GCTB due to soil N, C and water changes; and (2) what is the impact of trash removal on yield in fields managed under GCTBs. Both questions were answered based on the same set of simulations. We simulated the transition to GCTB after 25 years of burnt management combining four N rates and 3 trash removal treatments [no trash removal, 50 % trash removal (50 %) and 90 % trash removal (90 %)]. Simulated sugarcane yields have potential to respond positively to trash retention, and stalk yield for 50 and 90 % treatments decreased at rates proportional to the trash removal rates for Maceió and Piracicaba. In Palmas, located in a drier region, simulations showed trash retention having a positive effect firstly due to soil water retention. In Piracicaba, simulations also illustrated the potential negative, short-term impact of trash blanketing on yields due to the N immobilization by the decomposing trash.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. Antonio Dias Santiago, Dr. Ronaldo Souza Resende, and Dr. Paulo Albuquerque Silva, from Embrapa Coastal Tablelands, for the experimental data from Alagoas, and for the comments on the simulations for Maceió, to Dr. Aderson Soares Andrade Jr. from Embrapa Mid-North, for the experimental data of União/PI, and to Dr. Joddy Biggs, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, for the guidance in the APSIM-Sugar calibration. This research was partially supported by Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation—Embrapa (Project 02.11.01.025.00.00) and Brazilian Council for Science and Tecnology—CNPq (Projects 302872/2012-4 and 480702/2012-8).

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Author notes

  1. Fábio R. Marin

    Present address: Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture – ESALQ, University of São Paulo – USP, Av. Padua Dias, 11, Piracicaba, 13418-900, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. EMBRAPA Agricultural Informatics, Av. André Tosello, 209, Barão Geraldo, PO Box 6041, Campinas, SP, 13083-886, Brazil

    Fábio R. Marin

  2. CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, CSIRO EcoSciences Precinct - Dutton Park, 41 Boggo Road, Dutton Park, QLD, 4102, Australia

    Peter J. Thorburn

  3. Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture – ESALQ, University of São Paulo – USP, Av. Padua Dias, 11, Piracicaba, 13418-900, Brazil

    Leandro G. da Costa & Rafael Otto

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  1. Fábio R. Marin
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Correspondence to Fábio R. Marin.

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Paper presented at the XXVIII Congress of the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 24-27 June 2013 and published here with the agreement of the Society.

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Marin, F.R., Thorburn, P.J., da Costa, L.G. et al. Simulating Long-Term Effects of Trash Management on Sugarcane Yield for Brazilian Cropping Systems. Sugar Tech 16, 164–173 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-013-0265-2

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