Leaching of nitrate (NO3–) can increase the groundwater concentration of this anion and reduce the agronomical effectiveness of nitrogen fertilizers. The main soil property inversely related to NO3– leaching is the anion exchange capacity (AEC), whose determination is however too time-consuming for being carried out in soil testing laboratories. For this reason, this study evaluated if more easily measurable soil properties could be used to estimate the resistance of subsoils to NO3– leaching. Samples from the subsurface layer (20-40 cm) […]

Pastures cover nearly 50 million hectares in the Cerrado region. The Oxisols, which cover approximately half this area, are highly weathered soils composed mainly of kaolinite, iron and aluminum oxides. Iron and aluminum oxides have a great influence on the retention of phosphorus (P) in these soils. The aim of this study was to quantify the total phosphorus levels, as well as P availability and retention in Oxisols under pasture in the Cerrado region and to relate the data with […]