Abstract
Because of the great importance of sugarcane in the Brazilian agricultural sector, this study was developed in order to evaluate the soil CO2 flux and the soil microbial activity in the systems of burned sugarcane and green sugarcane. For this end, three areas were evaluated with different histories of sugarcane management: (1) burned sugarcane BS); (2) green sugarcane for 5 years (GS-5); (3) green sugarcane for 10 years (GS-10), considering that both areas of green sugarcane were converted from a scenario of prior burning before harvest. The soil CO2 flux (FCO2), basal respiration (BR), carbon of the microbial biomass (CMB), metabolic quotient (qCO2) and microbial quotient (qMIC) were evaluated in 30 points in a 100 × 100 m sampling grid, amounting to 1 ha. The results indicated higher FCO2 and CBM in the GS-10 area, and lower in the BS area, whose CO2 emission and microbial activity were higher in summer. The metabolic and microbial quotients showed a greater balance of the soil microbial activity in the area of green sugarcane for 10 years, fostered mainly by the higher amount of mulch on the soil. Key words: Saccharum officinarum, soil respiration, microorganisms, mulch.
Highlights
The cycle of sugarcane cultivation has been the subject of studies because of the impacts caused in the soil and atmosphere, related mainly to the sugarcane burning system, which is a common practice in Brazil and whose main objective is to facilitate the manual cutting
The CO2 release is due to the action of microorganisms in the process of decomposition of organic matter stimulated by the greater amount of substrate that the green sugarcane system provides
The areas evaluated were implanted in three sugarcane management systems: burned sugarcane (BS), green sugarcane implemented for five years (GS-5), one cycle with this system, and green sugarcane implemented for ten years (GS-10), two cycles with this system, being that both green sugarcane areas were converted from the scenario of prior burning before harvest
Summary
The cycle of sugarcane cultivation has been the subject of studies because of the impacts caused in the soil and atmosphere, related mainly to the sugarcane burning system, which is a common practice in Brazil and whose main objective is to facilitate the manual cutting. The CO2 release is due to the action of microorganisms in the process of decomposition of organic matter stimulated by the greater amount of substrate that the green sugarcane system provides. These organisms are widely used as indicators of soil quality as they are very sensitive to changes in soil management in the short time (Galdos et al, 2009), since physical or chemical attributes are not always sufficient to explain the variations that occur in the soil from the actions of its use and handling
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