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Fertigated Sugarcane Yield and Carbon Isotope Discrimination (Δ13C) Related to Nitrogen Nutrition

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the response of sugarcane to nitrogen (N) application with drip irrigation and the relation with carbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C), aboveground dry matter cane yield and the N balance in consecutive ratoon crops of sugarcane. An experiment was set up in Jaú, SP, Brazil, in which the second and third ratoon crop cycles (2008/2009 and 2009/2010) were evaluated. The experiment included an unfertilized N control in both years (T1), and the following three nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates (in kg ha−1) applied in 2008 and 2009, respectively: 70 and 50 (T2), 140 and 100 (T3), and 210 and 150 (T4). Fertilization with N caused a marked gain in stalk yields by 98 Mg ha−1 in 2 years. The N export with harvest was higher than N application in the control treatment T1 and at the lower rate (T2); this, in addition to the observed linear response to N, indicate the need to increase N fertilization in irrigated sugarcane. The values of Δ13C decreased with the increase of N supply showing a significant negative correlation (p < 0.05) with stalk as well as whole plant aboveground dry matter yields. The values of Δ13C in top leaves may be used as a tool to characterize the N status of sugarcane plants and its relation to aboveground dry matter and yield.

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Acknowledgments

To São Paulo Technology Agency for Agribusiness (APTA—Jaú) for site and field work support; CNEN (National Nuclear Energy Commission) for financial scholarships, and the Stable Isotopes Laboratory—CENA/USP for scientific support. Project partially funded by FAPESP project 2008/56.147-1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol – CTBE, Rua Giuseppe Maximo Scolfaro, 10.000, Guará, Campinas, SP, CEP 13083-970, Brazil

    Oriel Tiago Kölln & Henrique Coutinho Junqueira Franco

  2. Agência Paulista de Tecnologias dos Agronegócios, Polo Centro Oeste, Jaú, SP, Brazil

    Glauber José de Castro Gava

  3. Instituto Agronômico de Campinas- IAC, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Heitor Cantarella

  4. Universidade Sagrado Coração, Bauru, SP, Brazil

    Raul Andres Martinez Uribe

  5. Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Botucatu, SP, Brazil

    Luiz Eduardo da Rocha Pannuti

  6. Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura – CENA/USP, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Paulo Cesar Ocheuze Trivelin

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  1. Oriel Tiago Kölln
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  2. Glauber José de Castro Gava
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  3. Heitor Cantarella
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  4. Henrique Coutinho Junqueira Franco
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  5. Raul Andres Martinez Uribe
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  6. Luiz Eduardo da Rocha Pannuti
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  7. Paulo Cesar Ocheuze Trivelin
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Correspondence to Oriel Tiago Kölln.

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Part of master science project performed at Stable Isotopes Laboratory—CENA/USP.

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Kölln, O.T., de Castro Gava, G.J., Cantarella, H. et al. Fertigated Sugarcane Yield and Carbon Isotope Discrimination (Δ13C) Related to Nitrogen Nutrition. Sugar Tech 18, 391–400 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-015-0384-z

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