N2O emissions from sugarcane production in South-Central Brazil

• Grant number: 11/07276-6
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: September 01, 2011 - December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Clemente Cerri
• Grantee: Carlos Clemente Cerri
• Home Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Brigitte Josefine Feigl ; Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri ; Martial Michel Yoric Bernoux
• Associated grant(s): 14/50467-5 - Assessing and guiding sustainability in Brazilian sugar cane production, AP.R

Abstract

The Brazilian sugarcane production is rapidly expanding due to the increase in world demand for ethanol biofuel. The goal of this proposal is to estimate N2O emissions from sugarcane culture for ethanol production using the level of detail required by Tier 2 (IPCC, 2006). To do so field experiments will be conducted to determine the N2O emissions at different times of the sugarcane management cycles. Experiment 1 will consist of an area of reform in which the measurements of N2O emissions will begin since the soil preparation for planting in other areas will be assessed a five synchronic chronosequence with the different stages considering the period of regrowth until the harvest. For emissions from N-fertilizer applied in soil, the Experiment 2 will be conducted on the factorial (2x2x2): two systems of land cover (with and without straw), two management systems (with and without application of vinasse) and two N sources (incorporated urea and surface ammonium nitrate), and another control treatment for each land cover and management system. Still be made, N2O emissions from plants through sugarcane transpiration in controlled conditions of plant growth in installed field, besides the change in the bacterial denitrifying community on soil. Experiment 3 will consist of the application of isotopic techniques with enrichment of 15N fertilizer in order to distinguish N2O emissions from fertilizer from other sources (waste decomposition, soil organic matter mineralization, etc.) And thus improve emission factor generated in Experiments 1 and 2. Experiment 4 will evaluate the spatial variability of N2O emissions with the use of geostatistics to understand the patterns of N2O distribution in the soil. Once the information generated in this fields, will be integrated to model parameterization and calibration of the TEM (Terrestrial Ecosystem Model) that will predict N2O emissions with different management scenarios in the culture of sugar cane. The aims of this research is produce scientific information in order to help estimate the "carbon footprint" in ethanol production for use as biofuel, and may serve as a basis for drawing up inventories of GHG emissions with different levels of complexity (Business, Regional or National) to the production of sugarcane to produce ethanol. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FRACETTO, FELIPE J. C.; FRACETTO, GISELLE G. M.; BERTINI, SIMONE C. B.; CERRI, CARLOS C.; FEIGL, BRIGITTE J.; SIQUEIRA NETO, MARCOS. Effect of agricultural management on N2O emissions in the Brazilian sugarcane yield. SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY, v. 109, p. 205-213, JUN 2017. Web of Science Citations: 13.

SIQUEIRA NETO, MARCOS; GALDOS, MARCELO V. .; FEIGL, BRIGITTE J. .; CERRI, CARLOS E. P.; CERRI, CARLOS C. Direct N2O emission factors for synthetic N-fertilizer and organic residues applied on sugarcane for bioethanol production in Central-Southern Brazil. Global Change Biology Bioenergy, v. 8, n. 2, p. 269-280, MAR 2016. Web of Science Citations: 22.