Sugarcane straw management for bioenergy: effects of global warming on greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon storage

Global warming can intensify the soil organic matter (SOM) turnover, damaging soil health. Crop residues left on the soil are important to maintain a positive SOM budget and nutrient cycling. But, sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum ) straw has been removed from the field for bioenergy purposes. We hy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change 2020-04, Vol.25 (4), p.559-577
Main Authors: Popin, Gustavo V., Santos, Arthur K. B., Oliveira, Thiago de P., de Camargo, Plínio B., Cerri, Carlos E. P., Siqueira-Neto, Marcos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric Sciences
Carbon
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide emissions
Carbon footprint
Carbon sequestration
Climate change
Climate Change Management and Policy
Controlled conditions
Crop damage
Crop residues
Cycles
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Emissions
Environmental impact
Environmental Management
Ethanol
Fluxes
Global warming
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Methane
Mineral nutrients
Nitrogen
Nitrous oxide
Nutrient cycles
Nutrient removal
Nutrients
Organic matter
Organic soils
Original Article
Removal
Renewable energy
Saccharum officinarum
Soil
Soil moisture
Soil organic matter
Straw
Sugarcane
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Summary:Global warming can intensify the soil organic matter (SOM) turnover, damaging soil health. Crop residues left on the soil are important to maintain a positive SOM budget and nutrient cycling. But, sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum ) straw has been removed from the field for bioenergy purposes. We hypothesize that global warming, together with straw removal, will negatively impact Brazil’s ethanol carbon footprint. Thus, we conducted an experiment under controlled conditions to evaluate the impacts of warming and straw removal on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil carbon and nitrogen storage, and nutrient cycling. Two soils (Rhodic Acrisol and Eutric Nitisol) were tested with three rates of sugarcane straw removal (no removal (NR): equivalent to 12 Mg ha −1 ; medium removal (MR): 6 Mg ha −1 ; and total removal (TR): bare soil) and submitted to two temperatures (24 °C and 30 °C) and soil moistures (30% and 50%). Straw decomposition was stimulated by lower rates of straw removal, resulting in increases on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions between 5 to 14 times, and N 2 O between 25 and 40%. There were no significant methane (CH 4 ) fluxes. Soil carbon and nitrogen did not change due to straw removal, yet labile carbon fractions (living and non-living) were highly impacted, causing reductions of 15 to 40% on the carbon management index (CMI). Furthermore, straw removal reduced nutrient cycling between 10 and 30%. Overall, in a scenario of warming, our findings point to an intensification of SOM dynamic, resulting in increases of 35% on the GHG emissions and a CMI reduction by 20%. In practical terms, at least 6 Mg ha −1 of straw should be left in the field, guaranteeing raw-material for bioenergy, without causing major impacts on the GHG emission and soil attributes.
ISSN:1381-2386
1573-1596
DOI:10.1007/s11027-019-09880-7