Emissões de óxido nitroso (N2O) de Cambissolo cultivado com cana-de-açúcar em Campos dos Goytacazes: impacto de adubações com vinhaça e uréia

Abstract

The sugarcane crop (Saccharum officinarum L.) produces raw material for ethanol manufacture, a fuel with high potential for mitigation of greenhouse gases. However, little information about emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) from soil during crop development is available. Nitrous oxide is one of the greenhouse gases, and agriculture is the main source of emissions to atmosphere. Thus, agricultural practices commonly in sugarcane cropping systems, such as vinasse and N fertilizer application, may favour the emissions of this gas, reducing or even nullifying the mitigating effect of ethanol. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of vinasse and urea application on sugarcane crop regarding to N2O emission from an Inceptisol in Campos dos Goytacazes municipality, Rio de Janeiro State. The study was carried out at the Leonel Miranda Experimental Station, UFRRJ, with soil N2O emissions being monitored in two experiments. In the first, the cane was in the third ratoon, comprising the period from November 2008 to April 2009. The second experiment was conducted in September and October of 2009, when the crop was renewed (cane first growth). For both experiments, the experimental design was completely randomized plots with 6 replications. The treatments of the first experiment were: addition of vinasse and urea on the soil with straw, addition of vinasse and urea on a bare soil, and the respective controls with and without straw. In the second experiment, the presence of straw was not evaluated. In all occasions vinasse was broadcasted, and urea was applied in bands. The N2O fluxes were measured by closed-static chamber technique. Temperature, soil moisture at 10 cm depth, mineral N and ammonia volatilization were also monitored. During the months of November and December 2008, there was intense rainfall in the first 20 days after application of vinasse; the accumulated precipitation was over 374 mm. Because of this, the water filled pore space (WFPS) were about 100% for most of the first 20 days. After application of urea, a new period of heavy rainfall started, between 10 and 31/12/2008, with an accumulated precipitation of 297 mm, again favouring increase of WFPS. Under those conditions, the straw did not bring any effect on N2O fluxes, which remained almost unaltered during the whole period. In the second experiment, the effect of vinasse and N addition was clear. The fractions of the two sources of N lost as N2O were 0.02% in the first experiment, regardless of the N source, and in the second experiment it was of 0.02 and 0.13% for vinasse and urea, respectively. Based on the results, vinasse was not an important source of N2O. The effect of urea was too variable, with losses by NH3 volatilization and emitted N2O dependent on rainfall. In the studied environment, key variables for production of N2O in soils such as WFPS and mineral N availability did not explain changes in N2O fluxes, which could be explained by conditions of maximum water soil saturation, for several days during the study.