| Author(s): |
Soltangheisi, Amin
[1]
;
Withers, Paul J. A.
[2]
;
Pavinato, Paulo Sergio
[3]
;
Cherubin, Mauricio Roberto
[3]
;
Rossetto, Raffaella
[4]
;
Do Carmo, Janaina Braga
[5]
;
da Rocha, Gustavo Casoni
[6]
;
Martinelli, Luiz Antonio
[1]
Total Authors: 8
|
| Affiliation: | [1] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Nucl Energy Agr, Lab Isotope Ecol, Piracicaba - Brazil
[2] Univ Lancaster, Lancaster Environm Ctr, Lancaster - England
[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Escola Super Agr Luiz de Queiroz, Dept Soil Sci, Piracicaba - Brazil
[4] Agencia Paulista Tecnol Agronegocio, Piracicaba - Brazil
[5] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Environm Sci, Sorocaba - Brazil
[6] Univ Estadual Paulista, Fac Ciencias Agron, Botucatu, SP - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 6
|
Phosphorus (P) use in global food and bioenergy production needs to become more efficient and sustainable to reduce environmental impacts and conserve a finite and critical resource (Carpenter \& Bennett, Environmental Research Letters, 2011, 6, 014009; Springmann et al., Nature, 2018, 562, 519). Sugarcane is one crop with a large P footprint because production is centered on P-fixing soils with low P availability (Roy et al., Nature Plants, 2016, 2, 16043; Withers et al., Scientific Reports, 2018, 8, 2537). As global demand for processed sugar and bioethanol continues to increase, we advocate that improving P efficiency could become a key sustainability goal for the sugarcane industry. Here, we applied the 5R global P stewardship framework (Withers et al., Ambio, 2015, 44, 193) to identify more sustainable options to manage P in Brazilian sugarcane production. We show that current inputs of P fertilizer to the current crop area could be reduced by over 305 Gg, or 63%, over the next three decades by reducing unnecessary P fertilizer use, better utilization of recyclable bioresources and redesigning recommendation systems. Adoption of these 5R options would save the sugarcane industry in Brazil 528 US\$ million and help safeguard global food and energy security. (AU) |