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Sugarcane is currently the main renewable energy source in Brazil. Due to the importance of the cane industry and its contribution to a wide range of biobased energy and other products, LCA studies regarding canederived products are needed to assess their environmental benefi ts. The main objective of this work was the assessment of life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to cane sugar and ethanol, considering bagasse and electricity surpluses as coproducts. We performed an overall balance for the Brazilian Center-South Region, adopting different methods to evaluate sugar and ethanol production separately. The GREET 1.8c.0 model was used for the 'well-to-wheels' calculations but adapted to the comprehensive set of Brazilian parameters that best represent the Center-South Region. For the reference case, fossil energy use and GHG emissions related to sugar production were evaluated as 721 kJ/kg and 234 g CO 2 eq/kg, respectively. For the ethanol life cycle, these values were 80 kJ/MJ and 21.3 g CO 2 eq/MJ. Special attention was paid to the variation of some parameters among producing units based on data collected by industry. The consequent uncertainties in ethanol life cycle emissions were assessed through a Monte Carlo analysis based on assigned distribution of probability curves for eleven selected parameters and informed by partial statistical data available from industry for distribution generation.Projections were also made for 2020 scenario parameters based on the best in current class technologies and technological improvements deemed commercially possible today. Published in

Resumo -O trabalho foi desenvolvido, durante duas safras agrícolas, com colheita da cana-de-açúcar sem queima, a fim de avaliar o efeito residual da adubação nitrogenada da 2 a soca (safra 1999/2000), e o efeito do N e S do sistema radicular da cultura na produtividade do ciclo agrícola subseqüente (3 IntroduçãoA cana-de-açúcar é uma cultura semiperene por possibilitar várias colheitas ou cortes depois de cada reforma realizada no canavial. Sob este aspecto, devemse examinar os benefícios que as adubações e a palha deixada na superfície do solo, após as colheitas sem queima, poderão proporcionar com o passar do tempo. Na maioria dos estudos de resposta à adubação com nitrogênio em cana-de-açúcar, tanto em cana-planta quanto em soqueiras, as fertilizações foram avaliadas pela produção apenas no ciclo agrícola ou ano-safra em que a adubação foi realizada. A cana-de-açúcar vem sendo considerada uma cultura anual, com raros trabalhos como o de Orlando Filho et al. (1999), que mantiveram as parcelas experimentais por quatro anos

The area under mechanized sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) harvesting is expanding in Brazil, increasing the return of trash to the soil. The main questions regarding this management are: (i) after adopting unburned mechanical harvesting, how long will it take to observe decreases in fertilizer requirements, (ii) what will be the magnitude of this decrease and, (iii) the impact in the short run of removing trash for energy purposes in the nutrient cycling? This study aimed to build an N prediction model for long term assessment of the contribution of sugarcane crop residues to sugarcane nutrition and to evaluate the cycling of other nutrients derived from crop residues. Keeping crop residues over the soil will increase soil N stock and N recovery by sugarcane, reaching equilibrium after 40 years with recovery of approximately 40 kg ha -1 year -1 of N. Removing trash for energy production will decrease the potential reduction in N fertilizer requirement. Of the total nutrients in the trash, 75 % of the K 2 O (81 kg ha -1 year -1 ) and 50 % of the N (31 kg ha -1 year -1 ) are in the tops, indicating the importance of maintaining tops in the soil to sustain soil fertility. Because the input data employed in the simulations are representative of the conditions in Southeast Brazil, these results might not be definitive for situations not represented in the experiments used in the study, but the model produced is useful to forecast changes that occur in the soil under different trash management.

SUMMARYFew studies on sugar cane have evaluated the root system of the crop, in spite of its importance. This is mainly due to the difficulty of evaluation and high variability of results. The objective of this study was to develop an evaluation method of the cane root system by means of probes so as to evaluate the mass, distribution and metabolically active roots related to N fertilization at planting. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted in an Arenic Kandiustults with medium texture in Jaboticabal/SP, in a randomized block design with four replications and four treatments: control (without N) and 40, 80 and 120 kg ha -1 of N applied in the form of urea in the planting furrow of the cane variety SP81 3250. One week before harvest, a urea-15 N solution was applied at the cane stalk base to detect active metabolism in the root system. Trenches of 1.5 m length and 0.6 m depth were opened between two sugar cane rows for root sampling by two methods: monoliths (0.3, 0.2 and 0.15 m wide, deep and long respectively) taken from the trench wall and by probe (internal diameter 0.055 m). For each method, 15 samples per plot were collected. The roots were separated from the soil in a sieve (2 mm mesh), oven-dried (at 65 °C) and the dry matter was measured. Root sampling by probes resulted in root mass that did not differ from the evaluation in monoliths, indicating that this evaluation method may be used for sugar cane root mass, although neither the root distribution in the soil profile nor the rhizome mass were efficiently evaluated, due to the small sample volume. Nitrogen fertilization at planting did not result in a greater root accumulation in the sugar cane plant, but caused changes in the distribution of the root system in the soil. The absence of N fertilization led to a better root distribution in the soil profile, with 50, 34 and 16 % in the 0-0.2, 0.2-0.4 and 0.4-0.6 m layers, respectively; in the fertilized treatments the roots were concentrated in the surface layer, with on average 70, 17 and 13 % for the same layers. The metabolically active roots were concentrated in the center of the cane stool, amounting to 40 % of the total root mass, regardless of N fertilization (application of 120 kg ha -1 N or without N).Index terms: active roots, root sampling methods. RESUMO: DISTRIBUIÇÃO DO SISTEMA RADICULAR DA CANA-DE-AÇÚCAR, EM FUNÇÃO DA ADUBAÇÃO NITROGENADA, AVALIADOS POR DOIS MÉTODOS: MONÓLITO E SONDAPoucos estudos com cana-de-açúcar avaliaram o sistema radicular da cultura, apesar de sua importância. Esse fato é devido, em grande parte, à dificuldade de avaliação e à elevada variabilidade dos resultados. Objetivou-se com este trabalho avaliar um método de avaliação do sistema radicular da cana, por meio de sondagem, a fim de avaliar a massa, a distribuição e as raízes metabolicamente ativas em função da adubação nitrogenada de plantio. Para isso, foi conduzido experimento em um Latossolo Vermelho distrófico típico textura média, em Jaboticabal/SP, no esquema de blocos ao acaso com quatro repetições...

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Brazil is recognized as a prominent renewable energy producer due to the production of ethanol from sugarcane. However, in order for this source of energy to be considered truly sustainable, conservation management practices, such as harvesting the cane green (without burning) and retaining the trash in the field, need to be adopted. This management practice affects mostly the nitrogen (N) cycle through the effect of trash on immobilization-mineralization of N by soil microorganisms. The aim of the experiments reported here was to evaluate N recovery from trash (trash-N) by sugarcane during three ratoon crop seasons : 2007, 2008 and 2009. Two field experiments were carried out, one in Jaboticabal and the other in Pradopolis, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The experiments were set up in a randomized block design with four replications. Within each plot, microplots were installed where the original trash was replaced by trash labelled with 15 N, and maintained up to the fourth crop cycle. Trash-N recovery was higher in the Jaboticabal site, the most productive one, than in the Prad opolis site. The average trash-N recovery across the two sites after three crop cycles was 7.6 kg ha À1 (or 16.2% of the initial N content in trash), with the remaining trash-N being incorporated into soil organic matter reserves. While these results indicate that the value of trash for sugarcane nutrition is limited in the short term, maintaining trash on the field will serve as a long-term source of N and C for the soil.