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Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks

Bioenergy crops, such as sugarcane, have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel substitution. However, increased sugarcane propagation and recent management changes have raised concerns that these practices may deplete soil carbon (C) stocks, thereby limiting the net...

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Autores principales: Zani, Caio F., Barneze, Arlete S., Robertson, Andy D., Keith, Aidan M., Cerri, Carlos E.P., McNamara, Niall P., Cerri, Carlos C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6086084/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30123714
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5398
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author Zani, Caio F.
Barneze, Arlete S.
Robertson, Andy D.
Keith, Aidan M.
Cerri, Carlos E.P.
McNamara, Niall P.
Cerri, Carlos C.
author_facet Zani, Caio F.
Barneze, Arlete S.
Robertson, Andy D.
Keith, Aidan M.
Cerri, Carlos E.P.
McNamara, Niall P.
Cerri, Carlos C.
author_sort Zani, Caio F.
collection PubMed
description Bioenergy crops, such as sugarcane, have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel substitution. However, increased sugarcane propagation and recent management changes have raised concerns that these practices may deplete soil carbon (C) stocks, thereby limiting the net greenhouse gas benefit. In this study, we use both a measured and modelled approach to evaluate the impacts of two common sugarcane management practices on soil C sequestration potential in Brazil. We explore how transitions from conventional (mineral fertiliser/burning) to improved (vinasse application/unburned) practices influence soil C stocks in total and in physically fractionated soil down to one metre. Results suggest that vinasse application leads to an accumulation of soil C of 0.55 Mg ha(−1)yr(−1) at 0–30 cm depth and applying unburned management led to gains of ∼0.7 Mg ha(−1)yr(−1) at 30–60 cm depth. Soil C concentration in the Silt+Clay fraction of topsoil (0–20 cm) showed higher C content in unburned management but it did not differ under vinasse application. The CENTURY model was used to simulate the consequences of management changes beyond the temporal extent of the measurements. Simulations indicated that vinasse was not the key factor driving increases in soil C stocks but its application may be the most readily available practice to prevent the soil C losses under burned management. Furthermore, cessation of burning may increase topsoil C by 40% after ∼50 years. These are the first data comparing different sugarcane management transitions within a single area. Our findings indicate that both vinasse application and the cessation of burning can play an important role in reducing the time required for sugarcane ethanol production to reach a net C benefit (payback time).
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spelling pubmed-60860842018-08-17 Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks Zani, Caio F. Barneze, Arlete S. Robertson, Andy D. Keith, Aidan M. Cerri, Carlos E.P. McNamara, Niall P. Cerri, Carlos C. PeerJ Soil Science Bioenergy crops, such as sugarcane, have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel substitution. However, increased sugarcane propagation and recent management changes have raised concerns that these practices may deplete soil carbon (C) stocks, thereby limiting the net greenhouse gas benefit. In this study, we use both a measured and modelled approach to evaluate the impacts of two common sugarcane management practices on soil C sequestration potential in Brazil. We explore how transitions from conventional (mineral fertiliser/burning) to improved (vinasse application/unburned) practices influence soil C stocks in total and in physically fractionated soil down to one metre. Results suggest that vinasse application leads to an accumulation of soil C of 0.55 Mg ha(−1)yr(−1) at 0–30 cm depth and applying unburned management led to gains of ∼0.7 Mg ha(−1)yr(−1) at 30–60 cm depth. Soil C concentration in the Silt+Clay fraction of topsoil (0–20 cm) showed higher C content in unburned management but it did not differ under vinasse application. The CENTURY model was used to simulate the consequences of management changes beyond the temporal extent of the measurements. Simulations indicated that vinasse was not the key factor driving increases in soil C stocks but its application may be the most readily available practice to prevent the soil C losses under burned management. Furthermore, cessation of burning may increase topsoil C by 40% after ∼50 years. These are the first data comparing different sugarcane management transitions within a single area. Our findings indicate that both vinasse application and the cessation of burning can play an important role in reducing the time required for sugarcane ethanol production to reach a net C benefit (payback time). PeerJ Inc. 2018-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC6086084/ /pubmed/30123714 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5398 Text en ©2018 Zani et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Soil Science
Zani, Caio F.
Barneze, Arlete S.
Robertson, Andy D.
Keith, Aidan M.
Cerri, Carlos E.P.
McNamara, Niall P.
Cerri, Carlos C.
Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks
title Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks
title_full Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks
title_fullStr Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks
title_full_unstemmed Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks
title_short Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks
title_sort vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks
topic Soil Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6086084/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30123714
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5398
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