Quantifying soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas fluxes in the sugarcane agrosystem: point of view

Carlos Clemente Cerri,Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri,Marcelo Valadares Galdos,João Luís Nunes Carvalho,Brigitte Josefine Feigl

doi:10.1590/s0103-90162013000500011

Abstract

Strategies to mitigate climate change through the use of biofuels (such as ethanol) are associated not only to the increase in the amount of C stored in soils but also to the reduction of GHG emissions to the atmosphere.This report mainly aimed to propose appropriate methodologies for the determinations of soil organic carbon stocks and greenhouse gas fluxes in agricultural phase of the sugarcane production. Therefore, the text is a piece of contribution that may help to obtain data not only on soil carbon stocks but also on greenhouse gas emissions in order to provide an accurate life cycle assessment for the ethanol. Given that the greenhouse gas value is the primary measure of biofuel product quality, biorefiners that can show a higher offset of their product will have an advantage in the market place.

Highlights

One of the most challenging societal missions of the coming decades is meeting the increasing demand for natural resources driven by a dramatic growth of the human population from currently six to around 10 billion people in 2050 (Davidson et al, 2012)
Strategies to mitigate climate change through the use of biofuels are associated to the increase in the amount of C stored in soils and to the reduction of GHG emissions to the atmosphere.This report mainly aimed to propose appropriate methodologies for the determinations of soil organic carbon stocks and greenhouse gas fluxes in agricultural phase of the sugarcane production
The text is a piece of contribution that may help to obtain data on soil carbon stocks and on greenhouse gas emissions in order to provide an accurate life cycle assessment for the ethanol

Summary

Introduction

One of the most challenging societal missions of the coming decades is meeting the increasing demand for natural resources driven by a dramatic growth of the human population from currently six to around 10 billion people in 2050 (Davidson et al, 2012). The proposition of appropriate methodologies is important since strategies to mitigate climate change through the use of biofuels (such as ethanol) are associated to the increase in the amount of C stored in soils and to the reduction of GHG emissions to the atmosphere. Areas representing the main land uses with different times since conversion are sampled, providing an estimate of the temporal changes in soil C. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007a,b) CO2 fluxes are measured by mass balance; CO2 is assimilated through photosynthesis in the sugarcane cycle and, does not contribute towards an increase in the GHG concentrations in the atmosphere. In order to perform a better evaluation of the GHG flux in sugarcane fields, it is recommended a rectangular cham-

Type of sample vial

Findings

Final Remarks