ABSTRACT Sugarcane culture in Brazil has expanded the planting area to degraded pastures and sandy soils. Sugarcane field reform is carried out after five or more harvest cycles, with conventional tillage, followed by planting sugarcane, or growing soybeans or a cover crop. This study aimed to analyze the effects of these different managements in the conventional sugarcane reform on the physical properties and organic carbon in an Argissolo Vermelho distrófico arênico (sandy Ultisol), located at latitude 21° 13’ 40” south, […]

ABSTRACT Soil invertebrate fauna plays a major role in several environmental processes, and its absence can negatively impact ecosystem health. This study aimed to assess the recovery of epigeal and edaphic invertebrate faunal communities following an environmental disaster, with landslides, mudflow, and river floods, in sites under different management systems, the effects of cover crops on invertebrate fauna, and their relationship with soil physical and chemical properties in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The following sites […]

ABSTRACT The Century model has successfully simulated soil organic matter dynamics in many agroecosystems. However, initial applications in southern Brazil produced mixed results. The objective of this study was to calibrate and validate Century 4.5 to simulate soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics under diverse soil management practices in subtropical Brazil. Soil C and N data from two long-term experiments established on a degraded Acrisol in the early 1980s were used. Treatments were conventional or no-tillage; grass or grass/legume […]

In no-tillage or in crop-livestock integration systems, it is common the cultivation of common bean in succession to grasses. Due to the root systems morphology, differential secretion of various organic compounds by the roots, and crop residue decomposition, grasses may affect the soil P availability and the acquisition and utilization of P sources, apparently with low agronomic efficiency, for crops in succession. This study was carried out to evaluate the use of P in common bean yield in succession to […]

Where nutrients are lost by water erosion the eroded soil is impoverished and crop productivity is reduced, apart from the water contamination. Soluble N in the runoff is biologically available and contributes to eutrophication of the water and, depending on the form and content in the water, may be toxic to aquatic organisms. In order to evaluate the N content in the form of ammonium and nitrate in the runoff water, an experiment was conducted with simulated rainfall from April […]

This study was carried out in an experimental area of the Faculdade de Agronomia of the Universidade de Rio Verde, from October 2004 to May 2005, in a clayey dystroferric Red Latosol (Oxisol). The purpose of the experiment was to evaluate nutrient release from Pennisetum glaucum straw, cv. ADR300, in three different phenological stages (pre-booting, pre-flowering and early flowering). Pennisetum glaucum was used as cover crop in a no tillage system, in a randomized block design, and split plots in […]

An earlier application of potassium fertilizer, in the cultivation of cover crop species preceding the main summer crop in no-tillage system can be an advantageous in commercial farming. The objective of this study was to evaluate grain yield and K accumulation in soybean due to an earlier application of potassium fertilizer to a pear millet cover crop, and compared to K applied at sowing of the subsequent soybean under no-tillage. The experiment was conducted at the Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas […]

To evaluate the effect of soil tillage and management of winter cover crops (black oat + radish intercrop) on the soil temperature, an experiment was conducted in a Nitossol (Alfisol) in Botucatu, state of São Paulo, Brazil, in the 2000 fall/winter season. A design in randomized blocks was used in a 3 x 3 factorial scheme (three tillage and three cover crop managements). Soil tillage consisted of: conventional tillage, conservation tillage with chiseling, and no-tillage. The cover crops managements included plant killing […]

Dry mass production, decomposition rate and nitrogen (N) release were evaluated in a field experiment under seven cover crop types: pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum sin. typhoides), brachiaria grass (Brachiaria brizantha), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Mill sp), sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) and black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb), compared to a fallow and a traditional cropping system (control) in a cerrado soil (Uberaba-MG, Brazil). Among the tested cover crops, pearl millet and sunn hemp presented higher […]

The soils of the Submiddle São Francisco River Valley are generally sandy, with low nutrient retention capacity. Since they are located in a semi-arid area, they are very poor in organic matter (OM) and as a consequence are deficient in nitrogen, which limits agricultural production. Thus, the use of legumes as green manure may overcome this problem because it adds carbon and nitrogen to soil. The study comprised two experiments with legumes intercropped with irrigated grape (Vitis vinifera) in a […]