Emissão de dióxido de carbono e estoque de carbono em sistemas convencionais e alternativo de produção agropecuária no Nordeste paraense

Abstract

Use of agricultural conservation practices such as slash-and-mulch, as an alternative to slash-and-burn, is less harmful to biogeochemical cycling and helps to mitigate climate change. The aim of this study was to estimate soil carbon emission and stocks in smallholder agricultural units in Northeast of Pará. The study was carried out in the municipality of Mãe do Rio. Average annual temperature in this area varied from 25 to 28 °C and rainfall typically is higher than 2500 mm; predominant soil is Yellow Dystrophic Oxisol with texture varying from medium to clayey. In this research, we selected three land use systems (Schizolobium amazonicum plantation, Manihot esculenta crop, and silvopastoral), which were compared with a reference area (regrowth forest); we established four 20 m x 20 m plots in each system. We measured monthly soil CO2 efflux as well as soil carbon stock and aboveground litter carbon stock. Analysis of variance was used to test the effects of land use systems and regrowth forest effects on carbon emission and stock; Tukey test at 5% was used to compare treatment means. The silvopastoral system showed the highest monthly soil CO2 emissions, which were observed during the rainy season; this system also had the largest annual emission. Soil carbon stock was significantly higher in the regrowth forest was 157 ± 31,10 Mg ha-1 (0-100 cm). Litter stock was higher for the non-woody fraction than the woody fraction for both land use and regrowth forest systems. The largest stock of carbon in non-woody litter (overall mean = 4.31 ± 3,0 Mg ha-1) was observed in January 2010. Our results suggest that the land use systems that do not use fire in land preparation, such as the slash-andmulch system, helped to maintain carbon biogeochemical cycling.