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Emissions of CO2, N2O, and NO in conventional and no-till management practices in Rondônia, Brazil

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Abstract

Efforts to restore productivity of pastures often employ agricultural management regimes involving either tillage or no-tillage options combined with various combinations of fertilizer application, herbicide use and the planting of a cash crop prior to the planting of forage grasses. Here we report on the emissions of CO2, N2O and NO from the initial phases (first 6 months) of three treatments in central Rondônia. The treatments were (1) control; (2) conventional tillage followed by planting of forage grass (Brachiaria brizantha) and fertilizer additions; (3) no-tillage/herbicide treatment followed by two plantings, the first being a cash crop of rice followed by forage grass. In treatment 3, the rice was fertilized. Relative to the control, tillage increased CO2 emission by 37% over the first 2 months, while the no-tillage/herbicide regime decreased CO2 emissions by 7% over the same period. The cumulative N2O emissions over the first 2 months from the tillage regime (0.94 kg N ha–1) were much higher than the N2O releases from either the no-tillage/herbicide regime (0.64 kg N ha–1) or the control treatment (0.04 kg N ha–1). The highest levels of N2O fluxes from both management regimes were observed following N fertilizations. The cumulative NO releases over the first 2 months were largest in the tillage treatment (0.98 kg N ha–1), intermediate in the no-tillage treatment (0.72 kg N ha–1), and smallest in the control treatment (0.12 kg N ha–1). For the first week following fertilization the percentage of fertilizer N lost as N2O plus NO was 1.0% for the tillage treatment and 3.0% for the no-tillage treatment.

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Acknowledgements

Research support was provide by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2000/08239–2) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration; NAG5 9515). We would like to thank the Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Piracicaba-SP Brazil and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA for logistical support. The first author thanks CAPES for the doctorate scholarship. The authors thank João Arantes and the Arantes family for logistical support and permission to work at Fazenda Nova Vida, Gilmar Dri and Newton Soares of EMATER, and Vicente Godinho of EMBRAPA for technical assistance and fieldwork.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, CENA/USP, Caixa Postal 96, CEP 13400-970, Piracicaba-SP, Brazil

    Caio Cesar Passianoto, Brigitte J. Feigl & Janaina B. do Carmo

  2. The Ecosystem Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA

    Toby Ahrens, Paul A. Steudler & Jerry M. Melillo

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  1. Caio Cesar Passianoto
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  2. Toby Ahrens
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  3. Brigitte J. Feigl
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  4. Paul A. Steudler
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  6. Jerry M. Melillo
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Correspondence to Caio Cesar Passianoto.

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Passianoto, C.C., Ahrens, T., Feigl, B.J. et al. Emissions of CO2, N2O, and NO in conventional and no-till management practices in Rondônia, Brazil. Biol Fertil Soils 38, 200–208 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-003-0653-y

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