Impact of sugarcane cultivation on the biological attributes of an oxisol in the brazilian savannah

Abstract

Sugarcane is fundamental for the energy matrix in Brazil. The evaluation of biochemical attributes in different sugarcane production systems provides information on their environmental sustainability. Altogether, soil biochemical attributes are considered very sensitive indicators of changes in soil properties, and of alterations caused by soil management and land-use systems.The aim of this work was to study the effect of organic and conventional sugarcane cultivation systems on microbial soil properties. Changes in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) microbial and microbial activity were evaluated in a Cerrado Oxisol in the state of Goiás, Brazil, cultivated with sugarcane in three different production systems: organic (Organic Cane - OC), conventional with burning (Burned Cane - BC), and conventional without burning (Raw Cane - RC). The native Cerrado (NC) and other cultivated pasture (PT) were used as references. The soil samples were collected during the dry and rainy seasons from two depths: 0-10 and 10-20 cm. The chronological order of the implementation of the land-use (NC, PT and sugarcane) and cultivation (RC, BC, OC) systems were: NC, PT, RC/BC, OC. The microbial biomass C (CSMB), microbial biomass N (NSMB), basal respiration (Br), metabolic quotient (qCO2) and the CSMB/Corg, NSMB/Ntotal and CSMB/NSMB ratios were determined. The different land-use and cultivation systems influenced microbial biomass and activity. The replacement of conventional tillage for organic system recovered CSMB and NSMB levels and improved recycling of nutrients in the microbial biomass (NSMB/Ntot ). The conventional tillage system with burning (BC) was less efficient in use of energy and carbon (high qCO2 ), resulting in a loss of C-CO2 to the atmosphere.