Fluxos de CO2, água e energia no consórcio milho e pastagem no agreste meridional de Pernambuco

Abstract

The increasing emissions of greenhouse gases (among them carbon dioxide, CO2) causes global warming and change the global climate. The main expected changes in the semiarid regions due to global warming are reduction of water resources, rainfall and excessive flow rate, salinization and desertification. In this way, studies that investigate the relationship between the fluxes of CO2, water and energy are essential to predict how agricultural ecosystems will respond to those climate changes. The transfer of water and energy and their relationship to CO2 fluxes in grasslands, and how these will be affected by climate change, is not well studied in northeastern Brazil, and no research has been conducted in this region, investigating these fluxes in a pasture intercropped with corn. Therefore, the aim of this work was to determinate the fluxes of water and energy (evapotranspiration, ET) and CO2 in brachiaria pasture intercropped with maize, and relate these fluxes with the biomass production of these crops. The research was conducted at the Riacho do Papagaio Farm in São João-PE, in the Agreste Meridional region. In the center of the area was installed a metallic tower with a eddy covariance system, composed of an open path analyzer of CO2 and H2O and a three-dimensional sonic anemometer, as well as sensors for measuring speed and wind direction, humidity and air temperature, rainfall, global radiation and net radiation. Next to the tower was measured soil’s heat flux, as well as temperature and soil moisture profiles. Biomass and leaf area index of brachiaria and corn were determined in samples collected from June to December 2013. Furthermore, were determined the reference evapotranspiration (ETo), canopy conductance (gc) and the decoupling factor (Ω). It was found that during the most part of the experiment, the latent heat flux (LE) was the major consumer of the available energy, and sensible heat flux (H) was higher in the latter part of the study, due to the length of shortage of rainfall and warming of the region. The daily and seasonal variation of ET in the consortium corn-grass was controlled mainly by soil moisture and leaf area index (LAI). During periods of low soil moisture, deficit vapor pressure exerted major role in ET controlling. The Ω and gc were strongly influenced by soil moisture, being substantially reduced when the water storage in the soil layer (0-20 cm) was below 20 mm. The CO2 fluxes were affected by LAI and soil moisture, but the corn-grass consortium served as a source of carbon to the atmosphere during drier periods and lower LAI. In wetter periods and higher IAF, served as drain of atmospheric carbon. Throughout the experimental period, the consortium abducted 3.59 t of C ha-1, equivalent to 14.66 kg of C ha-1 d-1.