Crurves of fruit nutrient accumulation are tools for estimating the peaks of nutrient demand and the nutrient export form the soil. The accumulation of dry matter (DM), Ca, Mg and S was studied in fruits of Coffea arabica (L.) in the period between anthesis and maturation at four altitudes of cultivation, as well as the variation in the leaf content of the elements in productive branches. The experiment consisted of the coffee variety Catuaí IAC 44 cultivated at 720, 800, 880 […]

Microbial biomass carbon and organic carbon were measured in a long-term field experiment (20 years) in Planaltina, DF, Brazil, under corn-soybean crop rotation. Six management systems were selected: disk plow before planting (ADPP); disk plow after harvesting (ADPC), no-till after disk plowing in the first year (PDAD); moldboard plow before planting (AVPP); moldboard plow after harvesting (AVPC), no-till after moldboard plowing in the first year (PDAV) and an undisturbed area of Savanna type vegetation, Cerrado (CE) as a reference. Soil samples […]

In this study, quantitative and qualitative microbiological parameters were evaluated to detect differences related to soil and crop management. The study was carried out in a field experiment installed 14 years ago on a Rhodic Eutrudox, in Londrina, PR, Brazil. Treatments were a combination of a crop sequence (S) (soybean/wheat) and a crop rotation (R) (lupin/maize/black oat/soybean/wheat/soybean/wheat/soybean), either under conventional tillage (CT) or no-tillage (NT). Evaluations were performed when all systems were under the soybean cropping season, at full flowering. […]

Sodium iodide (NaI) and sodium polytungstate (SPT) solutions are being indistinctively used in density fractionation procedures of soil organic matter (SOM). This study aimed to evaluate these two solutions, adjusted to a density of 1.8 kg L-1 (NaI-1.8 and SPT-1.8), and particularly of SPT adjusted to densities of 2.0 (SPT-2.0) and 2.2 kg L-1 (SPT-2.2), with regard to their capacity of recovering the light fraction (LF) of SOM. A 20 g soil sample of the 0-5 cm layer of an Acrisol (PVd) and of a Ferralsol […]

Sediments in agricultural areas represent a significant source of pollution of aquatic environments. There are many different sediment sources at the level of a rural catchment (e.g. crop fields, pastures, forests, river banks, and roads), with different magnitude of contribution and contaminant potential. The identification of the sediment origin is important to understand the sediment transport rate and the management of sediment eroded at the catchment scale. The goal of this work was to identify the main sediment sources of […]

The low reactivity of lime below the application layer is mainly due to its low solubility, to the increase in soil negative charge in the applied zones, and to the short permanence of anions of added anions in the soil solution. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of anions added as potassium salts on increasing the reactivity of surface-applied limestone. The experiment was carried out in 2005 on a Haplumbrept (360 g kg-1 clay, 60 g kg-1 organic matter, and […]

Chiseling is one of the mechanical practices that can be used in no-tillage (NT) soils in order to reduce soil bulk density, resistance to root penetration, and to increase water permeability. The effect of these changes on plant growth and consequently on grain yield depends on climatic conditions. In soils with ideal moisture conditions, the physical limitations tend to be less noticeable. This study aimed to analyze the changes in the physical and hydric properties of a chiseled Oxisol under […]

In view of the toxicity of As for man and animals and the possibility of existence of a great number of contaminated areas it is imperative to know the total As content in soils considered uncontaminated and about As sorption processes in soils of variable charge. The objective of this work was to determine the total content and maximum capacity of As adsorption (CMADSAs) in Oxisols. The total content was determined by the USEPA 3051A method. The cmADSAs was determined by […]

The distribution of phosphorus forms in the different soil compartments (labile, little labile and non-labile) is very influenced by geochemical and biological processes and by human activities. To evaluate the effect of liming and cattle manure on soil phosphorus forms, four experiments were carried out in an entirely randomized design, in a 4 x 5 factorial layout with four repetions, in a greenhouse. The treatments consisted of four liming levels (0; 0.5; 1 and 2 times the recommended dose to reach V […]

The degree of soil nutrient availability to plants is one of the major factors determining crop production. Mathematical models have been proposed to simulate nutrient flux toward roots, taking into account several physical and chemical soil parameters as well as anatomical and physiological root traits. The objective of this paper was to establish a relationship between Baldwin’s theoretical diffusion model and experimental field data involving the response of wheat to K fertilization. Based on simulations with the theoretical model, it […]