Francisco Fujita de Castro Mello

Componentes da produção e produtividade de cultivares de arroz e feijão em função de calcário e gesso aplicados na superfície do solo

ABSTRACT YIELD COMPONENTS OF RICE AND BEAN CULTIVARS AS AFFECTED BY LIME AND PHOSPHOGYPSUM APPLIED IN SOIL SURFACEThe use of phosphogypsum and more tolerant cultivars to soil acidity can be an alternative to enable crops in no-tillage system, without previous lime incorporation. This trial was carried out to evatuate the effects of lime and phosphogypsum surface application on yield components as well as on grain yield of upland rice and common bean cultivars, in no-tillage system. The experiment was done on a Haplorthox, previously cultivated on conventional tillage system, in Botucatu, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. A randomized complete block design, in split-split-plot scheme, and four replications were used. The plots comprised four dolomite limestone rates (0, 1,100, 2,700, and 4,300 kg ha -1 ); in the subplots phosphogypsum was applied at the rates: 0 and 2,100 kg ha -1 . Two upland rice cultivars (‘Caiapo’ and ‘IAC 202’) were grown in the sub-subplots in 2002/2003 cropping season, and two common bean cultivars (‘Carioca’ and ‘Perola’), in 2003/2004. The number of panicles per m

Landscape and soil regionalization in southern Brazilian Amazon and contiguous areas: methodology and relevance for ecological studies

Soils of a large tropical area with differentiated landscapes cannot be treated uniformly for ecological applications. We intend to develop a framework based on physiography that can be used in regional applications. The study region occupies more than 1.1 million km2 and is located at the junction of the savanna region of Central Brazil and the Amazon forest. It includes a portion of the high sedimentary Central Brazil plateau and large areas of mostly peneplained crystalline shield on the border of the wide inner-Amazon low sedimentary plain. A first broad subdivision was made into landscape regions followed by a more detailed subdivision into soil regions. Mapping information was extracted from soil survey maps at scales of 1:250000-1:500000. Soil units were integrated within a homogenized legend using a set of selected attributes such as taxonomic term, the texture of the B horizon and the associated vegetation. For each region, a detailed inventory of the soil units with their area distribution was elaborated. Ten landscape regions and twenty-four soil regions were recognized and delineated. Soil cover of a region is normally characterized by a cluster composed of many soil units. Soil diversity is comparable in the landscape and the soil regions. Composition of the soil cover is quantitatively expressed in terms of area extension of the soil units. Such geographic divisions characterized by grouping soil units and their spatial estimates must be used for regional ecological applications.

Assessing the greenhouse gas emissions of Brazilian soybean biodiesel production.

Soybean biodiesel (B100) has been playing an important role in Brazilian energy matrix towards the national bio-based economy. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the most widely used indicator for assessing the environmental sustainability of biodiesels and received particular attention among decision makers in business and politics, as well as consumers. Former studies have been mainly focused on the GHG emissions from the soybean cultivation, excluding other stages of the biodiesel production. Here, we present a holistic view of the total GHG emissions in four life cycle stages for soybean biodiesel. The aim of this study was to assess the GHG emissions of Brazilian soybean biodiesel production system with an integrated life cycle approach of four stages: agriculture, extraction, production and distribution. Allocation of mass and energy was applied and special attention was paid to the integrated and non-integrated industrial production chain. The results indicated that the largest source of GHG emissions, among four life cycle stages, is the agricultural stage (42–51%) for B100 produced in integrated systems and the production stage (46–52%) for B100 produced in non-integrated systems. Integration of industrial units resulted in significant reduction in life cycle GHG emissions. Without the consideration of LUC and assuming biogenic CO2 emissions is carbon neutral in our study, the calculated life cycle GHG emissions for domestic soybean biodiesel varied from 23.1 to 25.8 gCO2eq. MJ-1 B100 and those for soybean biodiesel exported to EU ranged from 26.5 to 29.2 gCO2eq. MJ-1 B100, which represent reductions by 65% up to 72% (depending on the delivery route) of GHG emissions compared with the EU benchmark for diesel fuel. Our findings from a life cycle perspective contributed to identify the major GHG sources in Brazilian soybean biodiesel production system and they can be used to guide mitigation priority for policy and decision-making. Projected scenarios in this study would be taken as references for accounting the environmental sustainability of soybean biodiesel within a domestic and global level.