Soil tillage and cover crop on soil CO2 emissions from sugarcane fields

Abstract

Soil tillage is an agricultural practice that directly affects the global carbon cycle. Our study sought to assess the implications of adopting sunn hemp cover crops with different tillage practices on CO2 emissions for two soil types (clayey and sandy soil) cultivated with sugarcane in Brazil. The experimental design was a split-plot with randomized blocks, with the main plots being with cover crop or fallow and sub-plots being under conventional or minimum tillage. Our results indicate that during the first 50 days after soil tillage, the variation in soil CO2 emissions was stimulated by cover crop and soil tillage, while after that, it became dominated by the root respiration of sugarcane plants. We also found that over the first 97 days after the tillage, the clayey soil showed differences between minimum tillage with cover crop and fallow. Conversely, for sandy soil over the first 50 days following, there were differences between the tillage systems under cover cropping. Emissions from sugarcane rows were found to be greater than those from inter-row positions. We concluded that soils under different textural classes had distinct patterns in terms of soil CO2 emissions. The correct quantification of CO2 emissions during the sugarcane renovation period should prioritize having a short assessment period (~50 days after soil tillage) as well as including measurements at row and inter-row positions.