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Three-Year Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Responses to Sugarcane Straw Management

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Abstract

Green harvest sugarcane management has increased soil organic C and N stocks over time. However, emerging sugarcane straw removal to meet increasing bioenergy demands has raised concerns about soil C and N depletions. Thus, we conducted a field study in southeast Brazil over nearly three years (1100 days) for assessing soil C and N responses to increasing sugarcane straw removal rates. In order to detect the C input as a function of the different amounts of straw over three years, a field simulation was performed, where the original soil layer (0–0.30 m) was replaced by another from an adjacent area with low total C and δ13C. The treatments tested were as follows: (i) 0 Mg ha−1 year−1 (i.e., 100% removal), (ii) 3.5 Mg ha−1 year−1 (i.e., 75% removal), (iii) 7.0 Mg ha−1 year−1 (i.e., 50% removal), (iv) 14.0 Mg ha−1 year−1 (i.e., no removal), and (v) 21.0 Mg ha−1 year−1 (i.e., no removal + extra 50% of the straw left on the field). The results showed that sugarcane straw removal affected the soil C and total N pools. In the first 45 days of straw decomposition, a small but important straw-derived C portion enters into the soil as dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The lower the straw removal rate, the higher was straw-derived DOC content found into the soil, down to 0.50 m depth. After 3 years of management, keeping sugarcane straw on soil surface significantly increased C and N stocks within surface soil layer (0–0.025 m). Our findings suggest that under no straw removal management (i.e., 14 Mg ha−1), approximately 364 kg ha−1 of C and 23 kg ha−1 of N are annually stored into this low-C soil. The contribution of the straw-derived C (C-C4) to the total soil C increases over time, which accounted for about 60% under no straw removal rate. The greatest contribution of the C storage preferentially occurs into the fraction of organic matter (< 0.53 μm) associated with soil clay minerals. We concluded that indiscriminate sugarcane straw removal to produce cellulosic ethanol or bioelectricity depletes soil C stocks and reduces N cycling in sugarcane fields, impairing environmental gains associated with bioenergy production. Therefore, this information, linked with other agronomic and environmental issues, should be taken into account towards a more sustainable straw removal management for bioenergy production in Brazil.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (CTC) for providing us the research fields. Maurício R. Cherubin and Bruna G. Oliveira thank the Fundação de Estudos Agrários “Luiz de Queiroz” (Project no. 67555) for providing their post-doc scholarships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, 13400-970, Brazil

    José G. de Abreu Sousa Junior, Maurício R. Cherubin, Bruna G. Oliveira, Carlos C. Cerri & Brigitte J. Feigl

  2. “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil

    Maurício R. Cherubin & Carlos E. P. Cerri

Author notes

  1. Carlos C. Cerri is deceased. This paper is dedicated to his memory.

    • Carlos C. Cerri
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  1. José G. de Abreu Sousa Junior
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Correspondence to José G. de Abreu Sousa Junior or Maurício R. Cherubin.

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Sousa Junior, J.G.A., Cherubin, M.R., Oliveira, B.G. et al. Three-Year Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Responses to Sugarcane Straw Management. Bioenerg. Res. 11, 249–261 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-017-9892-x

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