Edaphic breath in soil use and management systems

Abstract

In Brazil, soil use and occupation is largely responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, and one of the ways to monitor disturbances to ecosystems is through edaphic breathing, result of root breathing and the activity of microorganisms present in the soil. Given the above, the objective was to evaluate the microbial activity of the soil through edaphic respiration in four soil use systems. The research was carried out in four soil use systems: forest remnant area (F); agroforestry system (AFS); mandala (M) and pasture (P), belonging to the Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), Campus III, located in the municipality of Bananeiras - PB. Three samples composed of soil were collected at a depth of 0-20 cm, in each system of use, for chemical and physical analysis in order to characterize the study areas.  To quantify carbon dioxide, the methodology described by Grisi was used and the CO2 captures occurred at night and during the day, for 8 months. A completely randomized design was used in a 4 x 2 factorial scheme. The lower temperatures during the night favored a higher CO2 emission; the pasture system and the AFS showed higher CO2 release in the two evaluation shifts, the forest remnant area showed less release of carbon dioxide. The microbial activity of the soil is more efficient at night; and the pasture area has higher CO2 emissions due to the lack of vegetation cover.