Climate-smart agriculture and soil C sequestration in Brazilian Cerrado: a systematic review

Author(s)

Dener Márcio da Silva Oliveira ^[1] ; Rose Luiza Moraes Tavares ^[2] ; Arcângelo Loss ^[3] ; Beata Emoke Madari ^[4] ; Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri ^[5] ; Bruno Jose Rodrigues Alves ^[6] ; Marcos Gervasio Pereira ^[7] ; Maurício Roberto Cherubin ^[8]

Affiliation

^[1] Universidade Federal de Viçosa. Instituto de Ciências Agrárias - Brasil

^[2] Universidade de Rio Verde. Faculdade de Agronomia - Brasil

^[3] Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Departamento de Engenharia Rural - Brasil

^[4] Embrapa Arroz e Feijão - Brasil

^[5] Universidade de São Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz. Departamento de Ciência do Solo - Brasil

^[6] Embrapa Agrobiologia - Brasil

^[7] Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro. Departamento de Solos - Brasil

^[8] Universidade de São Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz. Departamento de Ciência do Solo - Brasil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo; v. 47, 2023-03-20.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, mainly no-tillage (NT), cover cropping (CC), soil fertilization with organic amendments (OA), and crop-livestock (CL) and crop-livestock-forestry (CLF) systems, has been widely adopted in areas from Brazilian Cerrado. The CSA may partly offset former soil C losses and contribute to climate change mitigation. However, contradictory findings brought uncertainties about the effect of CSA on soil C. Here, by a systematic review of 87 papers and using 621 data pairs, we provided a pervasive biome-scale analysis of soil C stock changes associated with the adoption of CSA across Brazilian Cerrado. All CSA practices evaluated showed average positive rates of C stock change, indicating a general tendency of soil C accretion after its adoption. In areas under NT, CC and CLF, greater rates were estimated for the deeper soil profile evaluated (0.00-1.00 m) (1.24 ± 0.85, 0.54 ± 0.54 and 1.00 ± 1.47 Mg ha–1 yr–1, respectively), while OA and CL showed more soil C accretion when the assessment was limited down to 0.10 m depth (0.82 ± 0.60 and 0.59 ± 0.66 Mg ha–1 yr–1, respectively). Unfortunately, the lack of basic information precluded any attempt to statically compare our estimations. In this sense, we must be cautious in stating that soil C sequestration occurs at those rates after the adoption of CSA practices. Despite these limitations, the results clearly show that the diversification and intensification of agricultural areas in the Cerrado by the adoption of CSA is a promising pathway to increase soil C stocks, and consequently, contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Finally, our findings emphasize the importance of efforts that stimulate farmers to adopt these practices on large scale, such as Brazil’s Low-Carbon Agriculture Plan, besides providing sound empirical evidence about the role of soil C sequestration in Brazil achieving its Nationally Determined Contributions commitments. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 20/15230-5 - Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Innovation - RCG2I
• Grantee: Julio Romano Meneghini
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research Centers in Engineering Program
• FAPESP's process: 14/50279-4 - Brasil Research Centre for Gas Innovation
• Grantee: Julio Romano Meneghini
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research Centers in Engineering Program