ABSTRACT In some rural properties of Brazil, soil and water conservation practices are partially or inappropriately implemented, intensifying soil erosion, even in no-tillage (NT) areas. This study aimed to check the farmer’s understanding of conservation agriculture (CA) and assess whether they are using practices appropriate to soil conservation. A basin in the state of Paraná, in Southern Brazil, was selected. Surveys were conducted based on a structured questionnaire and in-person interviews of 234 farmers. Among these farmers, 67 % do […]

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 Expansive clay soils are a problem for agriculture and engineering because they are susceptible to change in volume due to seasonal variation in water content and temperature. One of its morphological properties is slickensides, which result from the ability to contract and crack when dry and expand by wetting. The objective of this study was to evaluate the processes of expansion and formation and propagation of cracks due to the change in water content over time. The expansion process […]

ABSTRACT In the tropics, water erosion is one of the most important factors leading to the degradation and deterioration of agricultural land. Olive orchards have a low canopy coverage, especially during the first years after planting, due to the low density of olive trees. Given the fast expansion of olive orchards in Brazil, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of cover vegetation on soil and water losses under natural rainfall. In addition, it was assessed the crop performance and […]

ABSTRACT Several soil conservation practices are used to reduce water erosion and ensure sustainable agriculture. An effective crop management practice is intercropping, in which two or more crops with different architectures and vegetative cycles are grown simultaneously in the same area. We hypothesized that intercropping of corn and jack-bean increases soil cover and reduce soil erosion by water in comparison to monocropping. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different crop systems on soil cover and […]

ABSTRACT: Soil is a natural resource that has been affected by human pressures beyond its renewal capacity. For this reason, large agricultural areas that were productive have been abandoned due to soil degradation, mainly caused by the erosion process. The objective of this study was to apply the Universal Soil Loss Equation to generate more recent estimates of soil loss rates for the state of São Paulo using a database with information from medium resolution (30 m). The results showed […]

ABSTRACT Water erosion is the process of disaggregation and transport of sediments, and rainfall erosivity is a numerical value that expresses the erosive capacity of rain. The scarcity of information on rainfall erosivity makes it difficult or impossible to use to estimate losses occasioned by the erosive process. The objective of this study was to develop Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for spatial interpolation of the monthly and annual values of rainfall erosivity at any location in the state of Rio […]

The problem of soil erosion in Brazil has been a focus of agricultural scientific research since the 19th century. The aim of this study was to provide a historical overview of the institutional landmarks which gave rise to the first studies in soil erosion and established the foundations of agricultural research in Brazil. The 19th century and beginning of the 20th century saw the founding of a series of institutions in Brazil, such as Botanical Gardens, executive institutions, research institutes, […]

Knowledge on rainfall erosivity associated to occurrence probability and return periods can contribute to conservation planning in the medium and long term. With the objective of generating information for a better use of medium and long-term erosion models and erosion control, rainfall data of 30 pluviometric and pluviographic data sets from 25 cities ranging from 1933 to 2006 were studied in terms of adjustment of data sets, calculation of the probability of theoretical occurrence (P) and return period (T) of […]

As conflicts related to the water use in Brazil are increasing, the implementation of policies that can mitigate these problems has become crucial. In this context, the concept of Payment for Environmental Services (PES) has been widely accepted and applied around the world and also in Brazil. The municipality of Extrema, in the State of Minas Gerais, was the first in Brazil to implement a PES program, known as “Conservador das Águas”. This study aimed to evaluate soil losses in […]