Assessment of Soil Physical Quality and Water Flow Regulation under Straw Removal Management in Sugarcane Production Fields

Martha Lustosa Carvalho,Maurício Roberto Cherubin,João Luís Nunes Carvalho,Karina Maria Vieira Cavalieri-Polizeli,Felipe Bonini Da Luz,Renato Paiva De Lima

doi:10.3390/su14020841

Abstract

Removing sugarcane straw to increase bioenergy production can generate significant income to the industry. However, straw contributes to the regulation of soil functions and consequently supports the provision of ecosystem services, such as water flow regulation. Thus, straw removal may hinder the provision of these services, especially in mechanized sugarcane production systems, which have soil compaction problems due to machinery traffic. In this study, we assess a six-year experiment in Brazil with four rates of straw removal: 0 Mg ha−1 (TR), 5 Mg ha−1 (HR), 10 Mg ha−1 (LR), and 15 Mg ha−1 (NR) remaining straw. Using attributes, such as soil bulk density, porosity, water infiltration, runoff, saturated hydraulic conductivity and available water-holding capacity, as indicators of key soil functions, we calculated a soil-related ecosystem service (ES) index for water flow regulation provision. The ES index revealed that water flow regulation was low regardless of the straw management (0.56, 0.63, 0.64 and 0.60 for TR, HR, LR and NR, respectively). It can be a consequence of soil compaction caused by machinery traffic throughout the successive cycle, whose straw was unable to mitigate this issue. Thus, by the end of the sugarcane cycle (sixth ratoon), straw removal had little effect on soil physical and hydraulic indicators, and consequently had little impact on the provision of the soil-related ES associated with water flow regulation. Nevertheless, straw management should be planned to consider other functions and soil-related ES benefited by straw retention.

Highlights

The impacts of worldwide logistic mishaps on energy production and distribution are felt across all other sectors of economic activity
To determine whether straw removal is a suitable to increase energy output plantaA field experiment of sugarcane strawstrategy removal was established in a sugarcane without compromising the sustainability of sugarcane crop, we hypothesize that in-the largest tion in the Iracemápolis municipality (22 36 S–47 34 W), in the São Paulothe state, discriminate removal of sugarcane the soil catalyze soil physical sugarcane producingstraw regionfrom in Brazil
By the end of the sugarcane cultivation cycle, straw removal had little effect on the process of soil degradation that resulted in the loss of soil physical quality and the ecosystem service related to the water flux regulation

Summary

Introduction

The impacts of worldwide logistic mishaps on energy production and distribution are felt across all other sectors of economic activity. Local, reliable, and renewable potential sources of energy, such as crop residue, are of great interest to the industry that directly produces them and to consumers in general [1,2]. The high availability of sugarcane straw is a result of the transition from a manual burnt-cane system to a mechanized green-cane system in high-yield sugarcane systems worldwide. Mechanized harvesting results in the addition of 10–20 Mg ha−1 year−1 of straw over the soil [4,5,6], which corresponds to one-third of the total energy potential of the crop [7]. In addition to the benefits to human health and the environment, the transition to mechanized harvesting creates the possibility of using crop residues as feedstock for the production

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion