Greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon dynamics in the Brazilian oil palm production

• Ano de defesa: 2012
• Autor(a) principal: Frazão, Leidivan Almeida
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Agroforestry; Biodiesel; Carbono do solo; Dendê; Efeito estufa; Fertilizantes nitrogenados; Gases - Emissão; Gases - Emission; Greenhouse effect; Nitrogen fertilizer; Oil palm; Soil Carbon
• Link de acesso: http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/11/11140/tde-23032012-171050/

Oil palm has been considered one of the most favorable oilseeds to biodiesel production in Brazil. The crop has been cultivated in the north and northeast regions under commercial plantations and agroforestry systems. As the oil palm is a perennial crop, it is important to understand how the intensive cultivation affects the dynamic of soil organic matter in the long term. The goal of this work was to determinate the greenhouse gas emissions associated to the main production steps and the changes on soil organic carbon under oil palm plantations. Soil and greenhouse gas samples were collected in traditional production areas in Brazil. Commercial plantations derived from pasture and Amazon rain forest were selected in Pará State (Agropalma farm), while areas derived from Atlantic rain forest and agroforestry system were selected in Bahia State (Opalma farm and Lamego). At first, changes on soil carbon stocks were evaluated in the commercial plantations and agroforestry systems. The variability of soil carbon dynamics in the production areas can be explained by several aspects such as temporal and spatial variations, and prior land use. The soil carbon stocks, after corrections for differences in density and clay content, decreased till 46% in areas derived from pasture and increased 18% in an area derived from Amazon rain forest. The soil carbon stocks increased till 23% in areas derived from Atlantic rain forest and decreased 30% when agroforestry system was adopted. The soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from N fertilizer application were 10 times higher in the seedlings production than in juvenile and mature plantations, however this step represents 3.8% of the plant cycle. In general, the observed greenhouse gas emissions at different stages of oil palm production are not large than other agricultural crops in Brazil. The decomposition of plant residues also contributed to greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. The carbon footprint associated to oil palm production at Agropalma farm was approximately 0.7 kg CO2 equivalent per kg of crude palm oil produced, and 70% this value is associated with the management of effluent in the anaerobic ponds emitting a large amount of methane to the atmosphere. The correct treatment of the effluent can result in reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and consequently, decreasing the carbon footprint associated to palm oil production in the Amazon region. The results founded in this study may be used to improve the biodiesel life cycle assessment derived from palm oil produced in Brazil.