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Soil tillage and cover crop on soil CO 2 emissions from sugarcane fields
Author(s) -
Farhate Camila V. V.,
Souza Zigomar M.,
La Scala Newton,
Sousa Allan Charlles M.,
Santos Ana Paula G.,
Carvalho João Luis N.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/sum.12479
Subject(s) - tillage , environmental science , cover crop , agronomy , no till farming , soil carbon , conventional tillage , mulch till , minimum tillage , crop rotation , summer fallow , soil water , crop , agriculture , cropping , agroforestry , soil fertility , soil science , biology , ecology
Soil tillage is an agricultural practice that directly affects the global carbon cycle. Our study sought to assess the implications of adopting sunn hemp cover crops with different tillage practices on CO 2 emissions for two soil types (clayey and sandy soil) cultivated with sugarcane in Brazil. The experimental design was a split‐plot with randomized blocks, with the main plots being with cover crop or fallow and sub‐plots being under conventional or minimum tillage. Our results indicate that during the first 50 days after soil tillage, the variation in soil CO 2 emissions was stimulated by cover crop and soil tillage, while after that, it became dominated by the root respiration of sugarcane plants. We also found that over the first 97 days after the tillage, the clayey soil showed differences between minimum tillage with cover crop and fallow. Conversely, for sandy soil over the first 50 days following, there were differences between the tillage systems under cover cropping. Emissions from sugarcane rows were found to be greater than those from inter‐row positions. We concluded that soils under different textural classes had distinct patterns in terms of soil CO 2 emissions. The correct quantification of CO 2 emissions during the sugarcane renovation period should prioritize having a short assessment period (~50 days after soil tillage) as well as including measurements at row and inter‐row positions.