Abstract—Continuous measurements of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted from soils are required to understand diurnal and seasonal variations in soil emissions and related mechanism. This understanding plays an important role in appropriate quantification and assessment of the overall change in soil carbon flow and budget. This study proposes to monitor GHGs emissions from soil under sugarcane cultivation in Thailand. The measurements were conducted over 379 days. The results showed that the total net amount of GHGs emitted from sugarcane plantation soil amounts to 36 Mg CO 2eq ha -1 . Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) were found to be the main contributors to the emissions. For methane (CH 4 ), the net emission was found to be almost zero. The measurement results also confirmed that soil moisture content and GHGs emissions are positively correlated. Keywords—Soil, GHG emission, Sugarcane, Agriculture, Thailand. I. INTRODUCTION LIMATE change continues to be a topic of considerable scientific debate and public concern. The concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) including carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) in the atmosphere has been significantly increased due to human activities. This has given rise to growing concern about the consequences of such increase on global warming and climate change [1], [2]. Agricultural production plays an important role on atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration [3], [4] and agricultural soils are also viewed as a large contributor to GHG emissions, especially CH 4 from wetland fields [5], and CO 2 and N 2 O for upland field [2]. The contribution of agricultural soils to CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O emissions depends on a biophysical process and a decomposition process of organic residue in soils. CO 2 is produced in the aerobic condition, while CH 4 is produced in the anaerobic condition, and N 2 O produced naturally in the soil through microbial processes of nitrification and denitrification [6]. Also, emissions of GHG are significantly influenced by environmental factors such as W. S. and S.B. are with the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Center of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment, S&T Postgraduate Education and Research Development office (PERDO), and Commission on Higher Education (CHE), Ministry of Education, Bangkok, Thailand (e-mail: wsp_a@yahoo.com, sebastien_b@jgsee.kmutt.ac.th) S.G. is with the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Center of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment, S&T Postgraduate Education and Research Development office (PERDO), and Commission on Higher Education (CHE), Ministry of Education, Bangkok, Thailand (phone: 662- 470-8309-10, 872-9014-5 ext. 4134, fax: 662-872-9805, e-mail: savitri_g@jgsee.kmutt.ac.th). temperature and rainfall, and by farm management practices. On the other hand, agricultural soils play an important role in the GHG global budget, with 3.5% of total carbon reserve of the earth [7]. A better understanding the emissions from agricultural soils is therefore a key issue for an effective quantification and of assessment of the overall change in the soil carbon flow and budget. In Thailand, sugarcane cropping accounted for 1.28 million ha in Thailand in 2012 [8], with two different residue management systems; burning and no-burning sugarcane residue in the field. The cultivation of sugarcane is expected to expand during the next decades to support food and especially bioethanol production to meet the national energy need of the region. Currently, data on carbon flow and budget in sugarcane plantation system are still very scarce or inexistent, and consequently any evaluation of GHGs emissions from sugarcane plantation is difficult. On the other hand, an accurate and reliable quantification of soil emissions is required to better understand the agro-ecosystem response to global change. The objective of this study is to quantify the CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O emissions from sugarcane plantation soils over the whole growing seasons. Monitoring of GHGs conducted at experimental sites under burned and unburned sugarcane cultivation areas is described and discussed. GHGs emissions from sugarcane plantation are then analyzed and assessed. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS A. Experimental Site Field experiments were carried out on a sugarcane farm in Nakhon Sawan province, northern region of Thailand. This site has been cropped for over 20 years with sugarcane. The cropping system is consisted of sugarcane plant crop in rotation with 2-3 years ratoon. The sugarcane is harvested annually. The climate of this province is classified as a tropical monsoon climate, i.e. warm and wet conditions in summer and cool in winter. The mean annual temperature of the study area is 28.8°C. Regarding the rainfall, the annual average is about 1,100mm, of which about 86% occur during the period running from May to October as shown in Fig. 1 [9]. Measurement of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Sugarcane Plantation Soil in Thailand Wilaiwan Sornpoon, Sébastien Bonnet, Savitri Garivait C World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Environmental and Ecological Engineering Vol:7, No:12, 2013 862 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 7(12) 2013 ISNI:0000000091950263 Open Science Index, Environmental and Ecological Engineering Vol:7, No:12, 2013 publications.waset.org/9996808/pdf