POTENTIAL FOR CARBON SEQUESTION IN SOIL MINERALS WITH THE USE NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC IRON-RICH NANOPARTICLE

• Grant number: 24/01196-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: July 01, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: José Marques Júnior
• Grantee: Lucas Sonoda Ninomiya
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Politécnica (EP)
• Associated research grant: 20/15230-5 - Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Innovation - RCG2I, AP.PCPE
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/17805-6 - IMPROVING SOIL HEALTH MEASUREMENT USING SIMPLE, ALTERNATIVE INDICATORS AND OPTIMIZING SAMPLING, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Soil is one of the natural resources essential to life on the planet and to the balance of the ecosystem and its functionality is directly linked to its ability to maintain its activities, which are mainly associated with agriculture and its components present in the soil, such as organic matter, a balanced ecosystem in conservationist terms, is one that has great potential for both sequestering and stabilizing carbon in the soil. Understanding the importance of soil for global environmental and economic development, it is necessary to invest in new technologies and alternative forms of management that can align sustainability with soil productivity, also considering local soil and climate conditions. Given this context, this project aims to investigate the contribution of soil mineralogy to the soil organic carbon sequestration potential after the addition of natural nanoparticles (rock powder) and synthetic nanoparticles enriched with Fe in soils originating from Basalt and Sandstone. The study will be carried out in the greenhouse of the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP/FCAV) in Jaboticabal-SP. The experimental units will consist of pots measuring 33 cm in diameter and 20 dm3 in volume. The experiment will consist of the following treatments: soil with synthetic nanoparticle (0.4 t ha-¹), soil with rock dust (5 t ha-¹), association of synthetic nanoparticle with rock dust (soil with nanoparticle 0.4 t ha-¹ + soil with rock dust 5 t ha-¹), a control soil (without rock dust and without nanoparticles), two soils with sandstone and basalt geology, in 4 replications, totaling 32 pots. Soil assessments will take place after the end of the incubation period. The biochemical attributes (fertility, microbial biomass carbon and organic carbon associated with minerals) will be evaluated and the mineralogical attributes of the soil will be estimated by proximal magnetic susceptibility sensors (SM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (ERD) and ray-X fluorescence spectrometry (ERFx). The data will initially be analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and test of means. Subsequently, multivariate statistical analysis of principal components and grouping by hierarchical method will be conducted to identify possible indicators to estimate the carbon storage potential of clay minerals. In addition, these indicators are intended to address some of the main scientific and technological challenges for the inclusion of these nanoparticles as an economically and environmentally viable alternative for Brazilian production, assuming that the use of natural or synthetic nanoparticles enriched with Fe by accelerating chemical and mineralogical aspects of the soil, can also alter the characteristics of this soil that govern the dynamics of several other processes related to the quality, fertility, productivity and sustainability of this soil.