Dados do Trabalho

Título

CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE AND SOIL C SEQUESTRATION IN BRAZILIAN CERRADO

Resumo

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, mainly no-tillage (NT), cover
cropping (CC), soil fertilization with organic amendments (OA), and crop-livestock (CL)
and crop-livestock-forestry (CLF) systems, has been widely adopted in areas from Brazilian
Cerrado. The CSA may partly offset former soil C losses and contribute to climate change
mitigation. However, contradictory findings brought uncertainties about the effect of
CSA on soil C. Here, by a systematic review of 87 papers and using 621 data pairs, we
provided a pervasive biome-scale analysis of soil C stock changes associated with the
adoption of CSA across Brazilian Cerrado. All CSA practices evaluated showed average
positive rates of C stock change, indicating a general tendency of soil C accretion after its
adoption. In areas under NT, CC and CLF, greater rates were estimated for the deeper soil
profile evaluated (0.00-1.00 m) (1.24 ± 0.85, 0.54 ± 0.54 and 1.00 ± 1.47 Mg ha–1 yr–1,
respectively), while OA and CL showed more soil C accretion when the assessment was
limited down to 0.10 m depth (0.82 ± 0.60 and 0.59 ± 0.66 Mg ha–1 yr–1, respectively).
Unfortunately, the lack of basic information precluded any attempt to statically compare
our estimations. In this sense, we must be cautious in stating that soil C sequestration
occurs at those rates after the adoption of CSA practices. Despite these limitations, the
results clearly show that the diversification and intensification of agricultural areas in
the Cerrado by the adoption of CSA is a promising pathway to increase soil C stocks,
and consequently, contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

Palavras-chave

soil organic matter; no-till; integrated agricultural systems; soil health; climate change mitigation.

Instituição financiadora

CNPq, RCGI, Programa Rural Sustentável e FAPEMIG

Agradecimentos

We gratefully acknowledge support of the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais - FAPEMIG (APQ-01712-22) and Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Innovation - RCGI (2014/50279-4 and 2020/15230-5).

Área

Divisão 3 – Uso e Manejo do Solo: Comissão 3.3 – Manejo e Conservação do Solo e da Água