The Guaratuba watershed is located at the “Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar” and has its headwaters in the Atlantic plateau. The area has a gneissic bedrock in a parallel hilly relief with high slope gradient, covered by the Atlantic forest consisting mostly of low size trees. The climate is humid tropical with rainfall of 2,000 mm year-1, with no dry season. The predominant soils are Red Yellow Argisol (Typic Kandiudults or Paleudults and Typic or Lithic Hapludults) and Haplic […]

Soil and water loss data under natural rainfall in Lages, Santa Catarina State (Brazil), from November 1992 to October 1998, were utilized to calculate the soil loss ratio (SLR) and C factor for the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) under three soil tillage systems for corn and oat in rotation with other crops. The studied treatments were: plowing followed by disking twice (P + D), chiseling plus disking (C + D) and no-tillage (NT)/direct sowing, cultivated with corn (Zea mays) […]

Pedotransfer functions are equations used to estimate soil properties of difficult determination, based on other, more easily obtained soil properties. In spite of the considerable number of equations available to predict moisture retention to specific matrix potentials, these should not be used indiscriminatley,since most of them were developed in temperate climate soils, using data obtained by method that differ from the ones used in Brazilian laboratories. The objectives of this study were: (a) to develop pedotransference functions to estimate water […]

The soil erodibility factor (K factor) of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) refers to the natural soil susceptibility to erosion and represents the quantity of lost soil per rain erosivity unit (R factor), a factor, which is of great importance in conservation management. Using data of soil loss, measured under natural rainfall conditions in collector ponds of superficial runoff, and of natural rainfall erosivity (EI30) in the period from 1989 to 1998 in Lages (SC), the soil erodibility factor […]

Soil or land leveling, a process of adequation of land surface, is being practiced in many rice-growing farms in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This process produces profound changes in the morphological, physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil. To study these changes, test areas were selected with homogeneous surfaces where Planosols occur and on which land leveling was performed for eight years, one year, and one month and with original soil, at São João do […]

This paper deals with the genesis of hydromorphic sandy soils with spodosol morphology found in extensive flat surfaces, in which isolated zones with undulating relief emerge, containing well drained oxisols. The objective of this study was to explain the existence of pedogenetic relationship in an oxisol-spodosol system, and to verify the possible development of the sandy materials as a consequence of oxisol transformation. For this purpose, we characterized the morphology of the soils and their physical, chemical and mineralogical attributes. […]

Knowing the susceptibility of a soil to compaction is important to adjust soil management, tillage practices, and traffic to cause minimal detrimental effects on soil properties. The objective of this study was to determine the preconsolidation pressure (σ’p) and the compression index (Cc) at two depths of two soils under no-tillage and conventional tillage, including a wide variation of the state of compaction. Undisturbed soil samples were collected with rings (5.4cm wide and 2.0cm high), at 0 to 2 and […]

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous establishing symbiosis with a large number of plants in spite of soil contamination with heavy metals.This study aimed to evaluate AMF occurrence and diversity in soils of four locations cultivated with grass species and contaminated with heavy metals as a result of Zn extraction and industrialization. AMFs were found in all locations, with species predominance being affected by heavy metal concentration in soil. Twenty one species were identified, belonging to the following genus: […]

The geochemical behavior in soil alteration profiles in Lavras (MG), Brazil, was evaluated during the process of soil formation leading to the formation of argillic horizons, in parent material ranging from acid, intermediate to mafic geochemical composition.Along each profile, from the consolidated bedrock to the solum, geochemical analyses of major elements-main oxides were performed, calculating the gains and losses through a mass chemical balance.The results showed a moderate loss of SiO2, bases leaching, and a slight relative enrichment of Al, […]

This study was carried out to evaluate chemical changes and corn growth in an Albaqualf soil.The tannery wastes used were primary sludge with Cr at the rates of 13.8 and 27.6Mgha-1 corresponding to 250 and 500mgkg-1 of Cr soil, respectively, and the sludge from liming, at the rates of 10.25 and 20.50Mgha-1. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse during 108days.The liming sludge increased pH (4.9 to 5.8), soil Ca (0.5 to 3.2cmolcdm-3) and resulted in corn yields similar to […]