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Soil Greenhouse Gases: Relations to Soil Attributes in a Sugarcane Production Area
Author(s) -
Silva Bicalho Elton,
Moitinho Mara Regina,
De Bortoli Teixeira Daniel,
Panosso Alan Rodrigo,
Spokas Kurt Arnold,
La Scala Newton
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2017.02.0043
Subject(s) - greenhouse gas , nitrous oxide , carbon dioxide , methane , environmental science , environmental chemistry , soil carbon , soil test , agronomy , chemistry , soil science , soil water , ecology , biology , organic chemistry
Core Ideas The production of the main soil greenhouse gases (CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O) is influenced by agricultural practices. The soil bulk density and micropores showed negative correlation with soil CO 2 emission. The factor analysis showed the formation of two independent processes that explained almost 72% of the total variance observed in the data. The soil moisture is a controlling factor of soil CO 2 emission. The production of the main soil greenhouse gases (GHG: carbon dioxide [CO 2 ], methane [CH 4 ,] and nitrous oxide [N 2 O]) is influenced by agricultural practices that cause changes in soil physical, chemical, and biological attributes, directly affecting their emission to the atmosphere. The aim of this study was to investigate the infield soil carbon dioxide emissions ( F CO2 ) and soil CO 2 , methane, and nitrous oxide production potentials ( P CO2 , P CH4 , and P N2O , respectively) under laboratory conditions and their relationship to soil attributes in a mechanically harvested sugarcane area. Soil carbon dioxide emissions presented an infield average emission value of 1.19 µmol CO 2 m ‐2 s ‐1 , while GHG production in the laboratory was 2.34 µg C–CO 2 g ‐1 soil d ‐1 and 0.20 ng N–N 2 O g ‐1 soil d ‐1 for P CO2 and P N2O , respectively. No significant production or oxidation was observed for CH 4 . Factor analysis showed the formation of two independent processes that explained almost 72% of the total variance observed in the data. The first process was related to F CO2 transport and its relation to soil physical attributes such as microporosity, macroporosity, the C/N ratio, soil moisture, and soil bulk density, showing the dependence between F CO2 and soil porosity. The second process was related to soil CO 2 and N 2 O production potentials under laboratory conditions and their relation to soil chemical attributes such as the sum of bases, pH, and available phosphorus, which affect microbial activity and contribute to GHG production. Although presented as independent, these processes are coupled and occur simultaneously in the soil, in addition to providing information about their variability and showing if the infield emissions are due to gas transport processes or soil carbon levels and their quality.