ABSTRACT Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth, and its availability is often influenced by management systems adopted over time. Adopting management systems, such as no-tillage, combined with cover crops, can influence soil P availability through factors including soil organic matter accumulation. This study aimed to evaluate how management systems and cover crops influence different P fractions and organic matter. Furthermore, the effect of the time since the implementation of management systems on phosphorus (P) availability and soil […]

ABSTRACT Grasses of the Brachiaria genus are widely used as cover crops in no-tillage areas of the Brazilian Cerrado. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of six Brachiaria cultivars to produce shoot and root biomass, and the potential of the root system to grow through a 0.01 m thick wax layer with 1.5 MPa penetration resistance. The plants were grown in PVC columns with a diameter of 0.1 m and a height of 0.7 m. The column was divided […]

ABSTRACT One of the pillars of a no-tillage system is the addition of adequate amounts of residue to keep the soil continuously covered. Cover crops are a tool for supplying the demand for the permanence of residues on the soil surface and releasing nutrients to the soil. However, there is no index that relates these two factors and can reconcile the maximum permanence of crop residues in the soil with the maximum N supply via N mineralization of such residues. […]

ABSTRACT Recycling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) from plants into soils is decisive for maintaining soil organic matter and soil fertility. Therefore, we quantified plant biomass and C and N in the shoots and roots from the topsoil layer for a wide range of annual crops grown under subtropical conditions. We grew 26 species, 13 main crops, and 13 cover crops, in the field in standard sowing arrangements. Root biomass was recovered from the 0.00-0.20 m soil layer at […]

ABSTRACT Oxidic soils are phosphorus drains in soil; hence, P availability is a limiting factor in tropical, weathered Oxidic soils. It has been shown that some brachiarias grown as cover crops may increase soil available P to subsequent crops. The objective of this study was to evaluate soil P cycling and availability, as well as the response of soybean to soluble and natural reactive phosphates as affected by ruzi grass (Urochloa ruziziensis, R. Germ. and C.M. Evrard, Crin) grown as […]

As a result of soil management systems, like the conventional tillage system (CTS) versus the no-tillage system (NTS) for vegetable crops, modifications in soil properties occur, which change, for example, the rates of soil aggregation and the content of total organic carbon (TOC). The aim of this study was to quantify the TOC contents and evaluate the rates of soil aggregation and the distribution of aggregates by diameter classes in a soil planted to onion in NTS and CTS and […]

Soils constructed after mining often have low carbon (C) stocks and low quality of organic matter (OM). Cover crops are decisive for the recovery process of these stocks, improving the quality of constructed soils. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of cover crops on total organic C (TOC) stocks, C distribution in physical fractions of OM and the C management index (CMI) of a soil constructed after coal mining. The experiment was initiated in 2003 […]

In quantifying the least limiting water range (LLWR), different critical limits of resistance to penetration (RP) and moisture at field capacity (θFC) are generally used. For agricultural soils, these values are documented in the literature. However, for constructed soil after coal mining, there is a large information gap. The aim of this study was to quantify the least limiting water range of a constructed soil under different cover crops in a coal mining area in Candiota, RS (Southern Brazil), considering […]

A significant quantity of nutrients in vineyards may return to the soil each year through decomposition of residues from cover plants. This study aimed to evaluate biomass decomposition and nutrient release from residues of black oats and hairy vetch deposited in the vines rows, with and without plastic shelter, and in the between-row areas throughout the vegetative and productive cycle of the plants. The study was conducted in a commercial vineyard in Bento Gonçalves, RS, Brazil, from October 2008 to […]

Soil erosion is one of the chief causes of agricultural land degradation. Practices of conservation agriculture, such as no-tillage and cover crops, are the key strategies of soil erosion control. In a long-term experiment on a Typic Paleudalf, we evaluated the temporal changes of soil loss and water runoff rates promoted by the transition from conventional to no-tillage systems in the treatments: bare soil (BS); grassland (GL); winter fallow (WF); intercrop maize and velvet bean (M+VB); intercrop maize and jack […]