CO2 flux in a wheat-soybean succession in subtropical Brazil: A carbon sink.

Abstract

The subtropical region of Brazil is home to 33% of the soybean [Glycine max(L.) Merr.] growing area and 90% of the wheat (Tritucum aestivum L.) growing area of this country. A soybean-wheat succession with fallow between crops is used in about 11% of the cultivated area. No study has quantified CO2 fluxes in annual soybean-wheat succession in this region. Hence, this study analyzed the seasonality of CO2 exchange (net ecosystem exchange [NEE]) in a 2015/2016 wheat-soybean succession in a commercial farm located in Carazinho, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The eddy covariance method was used to estimate the annual C balance of this system. The NEE was partitioned between gross primary productivity and ecosystem respiration to understand the dynamics of these fluxes during a year of wheat-soybean succession. Considering the net ecosystem balance between photosynthesis and respiration during the growing season, both soybean and wheat absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere (NEE wheat: -347 ± 4g C m-2 ; NEE soybean: -242 ± 3g C m-2 ). The fallow periods between growing seasons, however, acted as a source of 156 ± 2g C m-2 , reducing the C absorbed by the crops by 27%. For 1 yr, the net biome productivity was -50g C m-2 yr-1 . The results obtained here demonstrate that the wheat-soybean succession was a net C sink under these specific climatic conditions and field management practices and that the long fallow period between crops limited the agroecosystem from becoming a more efficient CO2 sink.