Linking Soil Water Changes to Soil Physical Quality in Sugarcane Expansion Areas in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil is the world’s largest sugarcane producer with projections for expanding the current area by 30% in the coming years, mainly in areas previously occupied by pastures. We assess soil water changes induced by land-use change (LUC) for sugarcane expansion in the central-south region of Brazil. For that purpose, soil samples were collected in a typical LUC sequence (native vegetation–pasture–sugarcane) in two contrasting soil textures (i.e., sandy and clayey). Soil hydro-physical properties such as pores size distribution, bulk density, soil water content, water tension, and drainage time at field capacity, plant-available water, and S-index were analyzed. Our data showed that long-term LUC from native vegetation to extensive pasture induced severe degradation in soil physical quality and soil water dynamics. However, conventional tillage used during conversion from pasture to sugarcane did not cause additional degradation on soil structure and soil water dynamics. Over time, sugarcane cultivation slightly impaired soil water and physical conditions, but only in the 10–20 cm layer in both soils. Therefore, we highlight that sustainable management practices to enhance soil physical quality and water dynamics in sugarcane fields are needed to prevent limiting conditions to plant growth and contribute to delivering other ecosystem services.

Long-Term Trial of Tillage Systems for Sugarcane: Effect on Topsoil Hydrophysical Attributes

“…The results for Bd in our study are similar to those from Luz et al's study [47], which assessed soil hydrophysical attributes in a clayey oxisol and found Bd values close to 1.0 g cm −3 in an area under native vegetation, and about 1.2 g cm −3 in soils with sugarcane. Differently, other studies [3,8,48,49] found Bd values for soils under sugarcane ranging from 1.46 to 1.68 g cm −3 , which are higher than the ones in our study, regardless of the tillage and management system assessed.…”

Soil physical quality response to management systems in a long‐term sugarcane trial

“…However, recent studies show that soil tillage may negatively affect soil physical properties related to soil structure, such as porosity, bulk density, resistance to penetration, and aggregate stability (Canisares et al, 2019;Carpenedo & Mielniczuk, 1990;Cavalcanti et al, 2020;Pires et al, 2017), affecting, thus, related soil processes, as hydraulic conductivity, soil water retention, carbon sequestration, soil erosion (Awe et al, 2020;da Luz et al, 2020;Martíni et al, 2021;Scarpare et al, 2019), and nutrient leaching. Furthermore, tilled soils are more prone to soil recompaction due to machinery traffic .…”

“…In order to support the production of raw materials for biofuel productions, many countries have expanded the area where sugarcane is cultivated. In Brazil, this area increased, approximately, 50% in the last 10 years (Cherubin et al, 2021; Conab, 2021; da Luz et al, 2020) and projections indicate that it will further increase (da Luz et al, 2020; de Andrade Junior et al, 2019). Brazil is currently the largest producer of sugarcane, with an area of around 10 million hectares that produces 654 million megagrams (40% of global production), and the second largest producer of bioethanol, accounting for 29.7 billion liters of ethanol from sugarcane (Conab, 2021).…”

“…This system makes use of soil tillage through plowing, harrowing and subsoiling operations for planting and reforming sugarcane fields, which aim to reduce soil compaction, incorporate lime and fertilizers, control pests, and for soil leveling (Barbosa, 2013). However, recent studies show that soil tillage may negatively affect soil physical properties related to soil structure, such as porosity, bulk density, resistance to penetration, and aggregate stability (Canisares et al, 2019; Carpenedo & Mielniczuk, 1990; Cavalcanti et al, 2020; Cherubin, Karlen, Franco, Tormena, et al, 2016; Pires et al, 2017), affecting, thus, related soil processes, as hydraulic conductivity, soil water retention, carbon sequestration, soil erosion (Awe et al, 2020; Cherubin, Karlen, Franco, Tormena, et al, 2016; da Luz et al, 2020; Martíni et al, 2021; Scarpare et al, 2019), and nutrient leaching. Furthermore, tilled soils are more prone to soil recompaction due to machinery traffic (Cherubin, Karlen, Franco, Tormena, et al, 2016).…”

Fitotoxicidade e fitorremediação de água e solos contaminados com os agrotóxicos 2,4-D e fipronil aplicados no cultivo de cana-de-açúcar

“…avaliaram a remediação de agrotóxicos organoclorados no sedimento de lagos e obtiveram bons resultados para a aplicação de carvão ativado, principalmente devido à maior superfície de contato. Aksu e Kabasakal(2005) aplicaram o carvão ativado para a remoção de 2,4-D por adsorção em solução aquosa e concluíram que o processo ocorre com maior eficiência em pH 2, para a dosagem de 333,3 mg de carvão ativado em pó por g de herbicida Cotillas et al (2018). utilizaram processos combinados com adsorção eletroquímica para remoção do 2,4-D em solos contaminados, sendo que os autores obtiveram sucesso na remoção de 20 g herbicida em 100 g de solo, sob corrente elétrica de 0,5 A por 2 h. Agostini deMoraes et al (2013) aplicaram biopolímeros para a remediação de herbicidas em águas contaminadas e indicaram potencial na adsorção dos compostos orgânicos.…”