Harvesting burnt sugarcane and its relationships with the environment

  • Tadeu Alcides Marques Universidade do Oeste Paulista – UNOESTE
  • Carlos Guilherme Sasso Universidade do Oeste Paulista – UNOESTE
Keywords: Sugarcane, Burning, CO2, Saccharum.

Abstract

The burning of sugarcane plants causes changes in soil, plants and atmosphere. The measurement of changes, provided by current research, is of great environmental importance. Soil and plant samples were obtained before and after burning for standardized areas. CO2 emissions through burning have been estimated. Data underwent multivariate analysis and ANOVA (p <0.05) and Tukey's test (p <0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed distinctions between variables obtained before and after burning. Significant statistical differences were obtained when pre- and post-combustion biomass variables were compared. CO2 emitted by leaf burning amounted to 3.89 Mg ha-1. Moreover, more than 0.92 Mg ha-1 of CO2 were released into the atmosphere, amounting to 4.81 Mg ha-1 of total CO2 due to the burning of leaf tips. Data on organic matter (OM), Mn, Cu and B of soil revealed burning-caused modifications. Burning causes decrease of leaf, tips and stems respectively at the rate of 92.48%, 33.52% and 30.70%. Changes also occurred in the soil’s organic matter (16.19%), in Mn (21.04%), in Cu (19.32%) and in B (30.56%).

Author Biographies

Tadeu Alcides Marques, Universidade do Oeste Paulista – UNOESTE
Engenheiro Agrônomo; Doutor em Tecnologia de Alimentos; Docente do curso de Agronomia da Universidade do Oeste Paulista – UNOESTE. E-mail: tmarques@unoeste.br; tmarques@uol.com.br
Carlos Guilherme Sasso, Universidade do Oeste Paulista – UNOESTE
Biólogo; Mestre em Agronomia pela Universidade do Oeste Paulista – UNOESTE. E-mail:
Published
2010-07-14
Section
Environment