Tannery and coal residues are potential pollution sources in numerous regions of Brazil, mainly in the Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina States. In order to evaluate the effects of tannery residue and coal mining refuse on soil properties and cultivated plants, a field experiment was carried out in 1996/97 at the UFRGS Experimental Station, in the Eldorado do Sul county, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) were […]

Mathematical models for soil erosion prediction are of unquestionable validity for planning the use of agricultural soils. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is an example of such models and estimates the expected annual mean losses of soil in a given site and for a given management system based on the parameters: rain erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), slope length (L), steepness (S), soil cover and management (C), and conservation practices (P). With the objective of contributing to conservation planning […]

Volumetric soil water content (q) can be evaluated in the field by direct or indirect methods. Among the direct, the gravimetric method is regarded as highly reliable and thus often preferred. Its main disadvantages are that sampling and laboratory procedures are labor intensive, and that the method is destructive, which makes resampling of a same point impossible. Recently, the time domain reflectometry (TDR) technique has become a widely used indirect, non-destructive method to evaluate q. In this study, evaluations of […]

An experiment was carried out to evaluate how mineralized nitrogen from cane trash and urea nitrogen applied to the soil is utilized by sugarcane ratoon. The field experiment was carried out from October 1997 to August 1998 on a Paleudalf soil in Piracicaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Four treatments were established: (T1) application of a vinasse and urea mixture over the whole soil area covered with cane trash-15N (crop residue); (T2) application of a vinasse and urea-15N mixture over […]

Soils with a planic B horizon underlying a textural B horizon and, therefore, not regarded as Planosols in the Brazilian System of Soil Classification (SIBCS) were characterized and classified. Three representative soil profiles were selected in the county of Ouricuri, Araripina micro-region, within the Sertão Zone of Pernambuco State, an area with a high density of planossolic soils. Soil profiles were morphologically described and disturbed samples taken from each horizon for physical and chemical analyses. Undisturbed samples were collected to […]

The constant use of fertilizers that does not contain sulfur, in addition to low organic matter content of some soils, may result in sulfur limitation to crops. Due to the high mobility of the sulfate ion in many soils, it is important to know the residual effect of the phosphogypsum when added to the soil as S source, in order to estimate its application frequency. Experiments were performed under field conditions, in two years, in order to evaluate the effect […]

The model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used to simulate alternative scenarios of land use in Ribeirão dos Marins watershed, in Piracicaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil, for the biennial period 1999/2000. Two scenarios were simulated. The first one (scenario 1) was based on the current land use except for the introduction of a continuous riparian buffer of 30 m along the drainage network and of 50 m around the springs, in accordance to Brazil’s environmental legislation. In […]

In pastures, the evaluation of fertilization efficiency of urea-N is important since it is applied on a massive scale. Several studies report an enhancement of the fertilizer’s efficiency by associated applications of urea with potassium chloride (KCl) and ordinary superphosphate (OSP). In the recovery of degraded pastures or in intensive exploration systems, high quantities of KCl and OSP used as corrective fertilization are applied at the november, beginning of the rain season. Split applications of KCl and OSP could easily […]

In order to achieve more sound fertilizer recommendations, knowledge about nutritional requirements of rice in different growing systems is fundamental. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effects of water levels on nutrition and nutrient exportation by upland rice (cultivar IAC 201) under two levels of mineral fertilizer. Experiments were conducted in the growing seasons of 1994/95 and 1995/96 on a Typic Haplustox, in Selvíria, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The experimental design was of randomized […]

Dynamics of decomposition and nitrogen (N) release of cover crop residues in mixed and single cultures was evaluated in a field experiment. The following materials were used: (a) black oat (Avena strigosa Schieb); (b) common vetch (Vicia sativa L.); (c) oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus L. var. oleiferus Metzg.); (d) 32 % black oat + 68 % common vetch, and (e) 51 % black oat + 49 % common vetch. To monitor the residue decomposition, air-dried plant material was inserted in 0.5 mm mesh nylon-bags (0.2 […]