MONS: Mechanisms of nitrous oxide emission in tropical soil

• Grant number: 23/08814-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2024
• End date: May 02, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Maurício Roberto Cherubin
• Grantee: Lucas Pecci Canisares
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/10573-4 - Center for Carbon Research in Tropical Agriculture (CCARBON), AP.CEPID
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/15775-2 - Understanding nitrous oxide emission from agricultural system through the functional ecophysiological traits of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The humanity faces a challenging moment of meeting the food demand, increase the ecosystem services and mitigate the anthropogenic impact in the climate crisis. Increasing soil organic matter is a key component to improve soil health, increase food production and mitigate the causes of the climate crisis in tropical agricultural systems. Using forage as cover crops growing in the inter-season of the Brazilian cash crops has an enormous potential of sequestering carbon into the soil. However, the greenhouse gas emission can be higher in these systems, especially for the higher nitrous oxide emissions (N2O), due to its impact on the soil microbiome and, consequently, the processes related to nitrogen (N) cycling. The mechanisms of niche differentiation of N2O producer microorganisms due to the higher plant residue, such as higher plant residue inputs and N mineralization, especially in tropical soils. The main goal of this project is to evaluate the impact of N mineralization from cover crop residues on different groups of N2O producers, specifically ammonia oxidizing microorganisms (AOM) because they typically control the rate-limiting process of N2O production in well aerated soils, as well as evaluate different strategies to mitigate N2O emission in contrasting ammonium sources (organic vs inorganic). This project will perform a meta-analysis to quantify the impact of quantity, quality and time of cover cropping on N2O emission through different functional groups of AOM (AOA, AOB and comammox). The project will use two soil microcosm incubations, one especially to understand the impact of the source of ammonium on the different groups of AOM, as well as the conversion of the ammonium into N2O and test the efficacy of different nitrification inhibitors to reduce the activity of these different groups in soils with contrasting ammonium sources (organic vs inorganic). This study will use a state-of-the-art technique to quantify the different functional groups of AOMs (AOB, AOA and comammox), DNA-qSIP combines stable isotopes with heavier mass to increase the density of the DNA of microorganisms that are actively using the substrate. The DNA extracted from the soil will be fractionated according with the bouncy density and the number of DNA copies will be quantified in each fraction using qPCR. This project will use the flux of N2O and the variations in the soil NO3- as supporting information to complement the molecular data. This combination of molecular and isotopic techniques is the state-of-the-art of microbial ecology because it quantifies directly the number of active microorganisms in the soil incubations and will contribute to improving the understanding of the mechanisms of N2O emissions from tropical soil. The results of the projects will crucial to improve the ability of the process-based models to predict the N2O emissions in different scenarios, it will further contribute with evaluating the efficacy of different mitigation strategies in contrasting soil N conditions in the context of the Centro de Pesquisa de Carbono em Agricultura Tropical (CCARBON, processo No 2021/10573-4). Thus, this project will improve the understanding of biological process related to soil health and agricultural sustainable intensification so the national and global goals to mitigate climate change can be achieved.

Scientific publications

(8)

(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)

PINHEIRO JUNIOR, C. ROBERTO; CANISARES, LUCAS PECCI; ABREU, MARCEL CARVALHO; LYRA, GUSTAVO BASTOS; DE OLIVEIRA, ALINE PACOBAHYBA; GRESCHUK, LUCAS TADEU; FERREIRA, TIAGO OSORIO; PEREIRA, MARCOS GERVASIO; DOS ANJOS, LUCIA HELENA CUNHA; CHERUBIN, MAURICIO ROBERTO. Drivers of carbon stabilization and sequestration in Brazil's black soils. CATENA, v. 246, p. 8-pg., 2024-10-05. (21/10573-4, 23/11337-8, 23/00438-8, 23/08814-9)

SOUZA, VICTORIA SANTOS; CANISARES, LUCAS PECCI; SCHIEBELBEIN, BRUNA EMANUELE; SANTOS, DARLIANE DE CASTRO; MENILLO, RAFAEL BRAGHIERI; JUNIOR, C. ROBERTO PINHEIRO; CHERUBIN, MAURICIO ROBERTO. Cover crops enhance soil health, crop yield and resilience of tropical agroecosystem. FIELD CROPS RESEARCH, v. 322, p. 12-pg., 2025-01-18. (24/06095-8, 22/16368-6, 23/11337-8, 23/08814-9, 23/10897-0, 24/08419-5, 21/10573-4)

PINHEIRO JUNIOR, C. ROBERTO; FERREIRA, TIAGO OSORIO; OLIVEIRA FILHO, JOSE DE SOUZA; QUEIROZ, HERMANO MELO; CANISARES, LUCAS PECCI; GRESCHUK, LUCAS T.; CERRI, CARLOS EDUARDO PELLEGRINO; PEREIRA, MARCOS GERVASIO; PEREIRA, GONCALO AMARANTE GUIMARAES; CHERUBIN, MAURICIO ROBERTO. Shallow soils in dryland ecosystems: Drivers of C accumulation and land management implications. GEODERMA REGIONAL, v. 38, p. 9-pg., 2024-08-14. (23/11337-8, 23/08814-9, 23/00438-8, 21/10573-4)

CHERUBIN, MAURICIO ROBERTO; PINHEIRO JR, CARLOS ROBERTO; SOUZA, LUCAS FREITAS NOGUEIRA; CANISARES, LUCAS PECCI; FERREIRA, TIAGO OSORIO; CERRI, CARLOS EDUARDO PELLEGRINO; MINASNY, BUDIMAN; SMITH, PETE. Global blind spots in soil health research overlap with environmental vulnerability hotspots. COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT, v. 6, n. 1, p. 10-pg., 2025-08-09. (23/11337-8, 23/08814-9, 24/23520-4, 21/10573-4, 24/15775-2)

CHERUBIN, MAURICIO ROBERTO; CANISARES, LUCAS PECCI; SOUZA, LUCAS NOGUEIRA; JUNIOR, CARLOS ROBERTO PINHEIRO; DE MORAES, MOACIR TUZZIN; BERTOL, FELIPE; BORTOLO, LARISSA; MENILLO, RAFAEL BRAGHIERI; CERRI, CARLOS EDUARDO PELLEGRINO. Long-term effects of crop diversification on soil health, crop yield and resilience of tropical agroecosystems. Journal of Environmental Management, v. 392, p. 15-pg., 2025-08-07. (23/08814-9, 23/11337-8, 21/10573-4, 24/15775-2)

CANISARES, LUCAS P.; JORIS, HELIO W.; TEIXEIRA, SALATHIEL A.; KAPP JUNIOR, CLAUDIO; SOUZA, LUCAS F. N.; PINHEIRO JUNIOR, CARLOS R.; CARVALHO, MARTHA L.; PEPER, ALBERTO M.; GALVAN, JONATAS; CHERUBIN, MAURICIO R.. Exploring high-intensity cropping rotations for improved yield and economic returns. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY, v. 169, p. 12-pg., 2025-05-15. (23/08814-9, 24/23520-4, 21/10573-4, 24/15775-2, 23/11337-8)

VANOLLI, BEATRIZ S.; DE ANDRADE, NARIANE; CANISARES, LUCAS PECCI; FRANCO, ANDRE. L. C.; PEREIRA, ARTHUR P. A.; CHERUBIN, MAURICIO R.. Edaphic mesofauna responses to land use change for sugarcane cultivation: insights from contrasting soil textures. FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, v. 11, p. 14-pg., 2024-01-08. (18/09845-7, 19/16764-6, 22/14212-9, 23/08814-9)

PINHEIRO JUNIOR, CARLOS ROBERTO; CARVALHO, JOAO LUIS NUNES; CANISARES, LUCAS PECCI; BORDONAL, RICARDO DE OLIVEIRA; CERRI, CARLOS EDUARDO PELLEGRINO; CHERUBIN, MAURICIO ROBERTO. Bioenergy Production From Sugarcane Straw: Implications for Soil-Related Ecosystem Services. Global Change Biology Bioenergy, v. 17, n. 5, p. 15-pg., 2025-05-01. (21/10573-4, 23/11337-8, 23/08814-9)