Functional relations between soil attributes may be used to associate different physical soil properties with soil characteristics. The objective of this work was to determine the relationships between some soil physical properties, namely bulk density (BD), particle density (PD), field capacity (θFC), permanent wilting point (θPWP) and available water capacity(θAD) with soil attributes measured in routine soil surveys. Eighteen representative soil profiles from Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina State, Southern Brazil, were used in this study. Disturbed and […]

Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms play an important role in supplying phosphorous to plants. This ability has stimulated research on plant inoculation. In our study, microorganisms were isolated from Pinus and Eucalyptus plantations and selected in culture medium. They were then employed in a series of 28 experiments under greenhouse conditions in substrate, forest or sterilized nursery soil, with or without phosphate fertilization, in one of the following P forms: calcium phosphate, Araxá, or Catalão phosphate. Three isolates promoted a higher dry […]

The cellulose and paper industry discards residues of varied chemical composition on a large scale. Some of these residues are being used by farmers for the adjustment of soil acidity, since they contain hydroxide. However, there are no recommendations on quantities or reapplications. Possible consequences are clay dispersion, reduction of the aggregate stability and the imbalance of nutrients, degrading the physical and chemical soil properties. This study evaluated the physical and chemical properties of two soils incubated with alkaline residues […]

Forage dry matter production of native pastures in southern Brazil is usually low due to the restricted soil nutrient availability – a limitation that can be compensated by application of liquid swine manure. In an experiment carried out from November 1995 to November 1999, in an area near a swine farm in Paraíso do Sul County, Rio Grande do Sul State, the efficiency and frequency of liquid swine manure application in relation to dry matter production and nutrient uptake by […]

A greenhouse experiment was conducted in the Soil Science Department of the Federal University of Lavras, Brazil, to evaluate the effect of silicon on mineral nutrition and dry matter production of moringa plants, cultivated under salinity stress. The experiments followed a randomized factorial block-type design, in three replications. In pots of 3 L capacity with one plant each, five levels of NaCl (0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 mol m-3) were combined with four levels of SiO2 (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, […]

Latosols (Oxisols) under cerrado vegetation have been intensively incorporated into the agricultural production process. However, studies involving soil quality in this environment are scarce. The objective of this work was to verify alterations on aggregation attribute indicators of soil quality, as a result of the management systems adopted for the native cerrado, and to select the best attributes indicating such alterations. The samples were collected at depths of 0-10, 10-20, and 20-40 cm from a typic Dystrophic Red Latosol (Oxisol) […]

Lime requirement diagnostic by base saturation (H + Al) estimation methods are critical in CEC calculation since they are bound to a potential soil acidity of pH 7.0. This study was carried out in order to evaluate a relation between the H + Al obtained by direct soil incubation with calcium carbonate and the estimation by the extractors acetate salt and SMP index. Twelve south Brazilian soils, incubated with increasing calcium carbonate rates to establish the real soil acidity at […]

Natural variability of soils makes it difficult to obtain values that adequately represent the soil properties within a certain area. The establishment of a minimum number of observations necessary to represent a soil property (with an acceptable error) is fundamental for the reliability of experimental results. In the present paper, the conventional t-test method has been compared with the bootstrap method, in order to estimate the number of observations needed to calculate the parameters that characterize the relation between hydraulic […]

The determination of potentially available phosphorus by chemical extractors is difficult in variable charge soils because there are several degrees of bound energy between phosphorus and colloids. The objective of this work was to estimate the minimum number of successive extractions with the Mehlich-1, Mehlich-3 and anion exchange resin (AER) methods to obtain values of potentially available phosphorus. Thirteen successive extractions were accomplished with Mehlich-1, Mehlich-3 and AER methods in samples of a Rhodic Hapludox under a no-tillage system and […]

The effects of inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), of soil sterilization, and of phosphorus fertilization on growth of yellow passion fruit were evaluated in greenhouse conditions. The experimental outlay was a completely randomized 2 × 3 × 4 factorial design with three replicates per treatment. The applied treatments, using 1.6 dm3 pots, were: two soil treatments (sterilized-SS and unsterilized soil-US), three P treatments (soil with 4, 11 and 30 mg dm-3 of P) and four AMF treatments (inoculation with […]