Unravelling the sources and sinks of nitrous oxide (N2O) in sustainable bio-based agriculture

• Grant number: 13/50940-0
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Regular Program Grants
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy
• Agreement: BE-BASIC Consortium
• Principal Investigator: Janaina Braga do Carmo
• Grantee: Janaina Braga do Carmo
• Principal researcher abroad: Eiko Eurya Kuramae
• Institution abroad: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Netherlands
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias para a Sustentabilidade (CCTS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Sorocaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

One of the main concerns of biomass production for bio-energy is the potential positive feedbacks of crop production to global change, particularly in the form of greenhouse gas emissions (CH4, CO2, N2O - GHGs). Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a significant by-product of agricultural intensification, primarily due to the application and transformation of inorganic Nitrogen (N) fertilizers. In our previous and ongoing studies with sugarcane crop we have observed that not only nitrogen fertilizer in soil increases N2O emissions but also the combination of N and vinasse (by-product of ethanol). Soil microorganisms are central to these transformations and thus regulate the loss or retention of inorganic N, including N2O. Biological emissions of N2O are mainly controlled by two microbial processes: nitrification and denitrification. However, we have limited understanding of how these processes are regulated in complex systems such as soils under crops for bio-energy. Prior work has often focused on individual microbial species that contribute to each process and on ecosystem scale parameters such as organic matter content, soil texture, pH, soil N status and precipitation. What is lacking is an approach that combines fine scale mechanistic details on the physiology of key functional groups of the N cycling microbial community and their interaction with their environment and each other. Our goal is to combine advanced omic technologies (meta-genomics, -transcriptomics and - proteomics) to determine the key players in the biogeochemical cycling of N, with a specific focus on organisms involved in denitrification in a model of sustainable sugarcane biomass production system. (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(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)

GABRIEL, GABRIELE V. M.; OLIVEIRA, LUCIANA C.; BARROS, DAYANE J.; BENTO, MARILIA S.; NEU, VANIA; TOPPA, ROGERIO H.; CARMO, JANAINA B.; NAVARRETE, ACACIO A.. Methane emission suppression in flooded soil from Amazonia. Chemosphere, v. 250, JUL 2020. (17/03575-5, 12/50694-6, 16/16687-3, 13/50940-0, 16/10796-5)

PITOMBO, LEONARDO M.; RAMOS, JULIANA C.; QUEVEDO, HELIO D.; DO CARMO, KARINA P.; PAIVA, JANE M. P.; PEREIRA, ELISABETE A.; DO CARMO, JANAINA B.. Methodology for soil respirometric assays: Step by step and guidelines to measure fluxes of trace gases using microcosms. METHODSX, v. 5, p. 656-668, 2018. (13/50940-0)

CIPRIANO, MATHEUS A. P.; SULEIMAN, AFNAN K. A.; DA SILVEIRA, ADRIANA P. D.; DO CARMO, JANAINA B.; KURAMAE, EIKO E.. Bacterial community composition and diversity of two different forms of an organic residue of bioenergy crop. PeerJ, v. 7, APR 18 2019. (13/50365-5, 13/50940-0)

DE MELLO GABRIEL, GABRIELE VERONICA; PITOMBO, LEONARDO MACHADO; TAVARES ROSA, LUANA MARIA; NAVARRETE, ACACIO APARECIDO; BOTERO, WANDER GUSTAVO; DO CARMO, JANAINA BRAGA; DE OLIVEIRA, LUCIANA CAMARGO. The environmental importance of iron speciation in soils: evaluation of classic methodologies. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT, v. 193, n. 2, JAN 15 2021. (13/50940-0, 17/03575-5, 16/16687-3, 16/10796-5)