Management effects on nitrogen recovery in a sugarcane crop grown in Brazil

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) harvested without burning provides a substantial amount of remains (trash) on soil profiles which can be decomposed and release nutrients contributing to reduce fertilizer needs. The contribution of nitrogen (N) from sugarcane plant residues and fertilizer in sugarcane nutrition was assessed. Plant cane treatments were micro plots of 15 Nlabeled urea, sugarcane trash and root system; the last two to simulate the previous crop residues incorporated into the soil after crop renewal.

Section: N From Green Harvest Residues Recovery By Sugarcane In Threesupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: N-microplot Sampling N Recovery and C And N Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contribution of nitrogen from sugarcane harvest residues and urea for crop nutrition

Fortes¹,

Vitti

Otto

et al. 2013

“…Fortes et al (2011) showed that the utilization of N present in the trash by the subsequent ratoon was low, around 20 % after maintaining residues in the field for three years. Small N recoveries from sugarcane trash also was reported by Oliveira et al (1999), Gava et al (2003), Trivelin et al (2002), Basanta et al (2003), Vitti et al (2010b), Vitti et al (2011 and Fortes et al (2012). Moreover, Robertson and Thorburn (2007b) verified that the supply, to sugarcane, of N from trash will increase until it achieves the balance into the soil about 40 kg ha −1 year −1 N, with 90 % of the balance being reached after around 30 years of continuous trash preservation.…”

Section: Biomass Production and Nutrient Stock In Crop Residuessupporting

confidence: 55%

Assessment of sugarcane trash for agronomic and energy purposes in Brazil

Franco

Pimenta

Carvalho

et al. 2013

107

Due to new possibilities for using sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) trash for electricity generation, and the production of 2 nd generation ethanol and others chemicals, the interest for its recovery has increased. However, the question of how much trash can be removed from sugarcane field still needs to be clarified. This study evaluated the amount of dry matter, nutrients content, structural compounds and efficiency of the enzymatic hydrolysis of the hydrothermal pretreated materials for tops and dry leaves in samples from sugarcane varieties. Tops and dry leaves present differences in nutrients content and moisture. Therefore, the amount of trash to be collected should not be simply based on percentages, but also should take into account the different fractions of the crop residues. For instance, around 80 % of N, P and K were derived from tops. Therein, the environmental indicators of the entire chain of sugarcane could be benefited because more nutrients would be recycled and less mineral fertilizers might be used for sugarcane production if tops are left on the field. Further, the tops have seven times more moisture than dry leaves and higher amounts of extractives (organic compounds of low molecular weight). Moreover, as the result of yield obtained in the pretreatment steps for dry leaves were superior to the tops and the glucose yields obtained in the enzymatic hydrolysis step were similar, it can be predicted that for second generation ethanol production, it is more viable to recover parts of the dry leaves fraction, leaving the tops on the field.

“…trash consists of dry leaves, tops and variable amounts of cane stalks, varying from 10 to 20 t ha -1 of dry matter, presents high C to N ratio (80 to 110:1) and contains 30 to 80 kg ha -1 of N (Basanta et al, 2003;Fortes et al, 2012;Gava et al, 2003;Robertson and Thorburn, 2007a;Thorburn et al, 2005;Trivelin et al, 1995;Vitti et al, 2011). The high C/N ratio of trash results in significant N immobilization due to increased microbiological activity caused by energy input into the soil, leading to slow rates of N release in the short term (Meier et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of sugarcane trash on fertilizer requirements for São Paulo, Brazil

Trivelin

Franco

Otto

et al. 2013

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.