Raindrop impact and runoff are the active agents of water erosion, which is influenced by soil roughness and cover, crop type and tillage system. Conservation tillage reduces water erosion in relation to conventional tillage by means of surface roughness and cover. This work was conducted in Centro de Ciência Agroveterinárias, in Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazil, from January 1993, to October 1998 to quantify soil and runoff losses under natural rainfall in the following soil tillage downslope systems: no-tillage, chisel plow […]

The aim of this study was to select and partially characterize efficient nitrogen-fixing rhizobia associated to pigeonpea from coastal tableland areas in the Northeast of Brazil. Sixteen rhizobia from different coastal tableland areas were evaluated under greenhouse condition, at the Embrapa Coastal Tablelands (Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil). Four isolates performed better than the others in relation to shoot N content (NC), shoot dry weight (SDW), leaf area (LA) and nodule dry weight (NDW). NDW showed high correlation with SDW, LA and […]

Thirty Panicum maximum Jacq. genotypes were screened for aluminum tolerance at aluminum rates 0, 12 e 24 mg L-1 in nutrient solution. The effects of the aluminum in Al-induced inhibition of root elongation and Al-tolerance index allowed classification into three different Al tolerance groups: tolerant, medium and sensitive. Most of the genotypes presented moderate even low tolerance to aluminum toxicity, although K191, T95, T84, T91, Centenário were Al-tolerant and Centauro, K68, K214, T46 were Al-sensitive genotypes.

The no-tillage system with grain crops occupies today 2.5 millions hectares in the state of Paraná. Besides the traditional rotation system with wheat and soybean, in many areas green manure cover crops are also sown in the Winter and corn in the Summer. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in some of the soil chemical properties after eight years under the crop rotation systems: wheat-soybean-black oat-soybean (WOS), wheat-soybean-lupine-corn-black oat-soybean (LCO), lupine-corn-wheat-soybean (LC) and compare them with the […]

The objective of this work was to compare the diffusive-dispersive coefficients of phosphorus and potassium as well as to describe nutrient transport in different aggregate classes of a typic Haplortox, cultivated with maize over several years, by applying two theoretical models. The experiment was carried out using percolation columns and five classes of aggregate sizes (2.0-1.0, 1.0-0.5, 0.5-0.25, 0.25-0.105 and < 0,105 mm). The elution column consisted of a glass column with 2 cm internal diameter and 30 cm length, […]

The spatial variability of strongly weathered soils under sugarcane and soybean/wheat rotation was quantitatively assessed on 33 fields in two regions in São Paulo State, Brazil: Araras (15 fields with sugarcane) and Assis (11 fields with sugarcane and seven fields with soybean/wheat rotation). Statistical methods used were: nested analysis of variance (for 11 fields), semivariance analysis and analysis of variance within and between fields. Spatial levels from 50 m to several km were analyzed. Results are discussed with reference to […]

Black oat provides an excellent soil cover, and is a preferential winter crop mainly before soybean cultivation in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of black oat straw management on soil cover, soybean emergency, soil temperature and soil water content. The experiment was carried out during 1997/98, at the Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria (RS), on a Typic Hapludalf soil. A completely randomized block design was used in a […]

The adsorption of two humic acids (HA) was carried out on a natural Oxisol (natural LR) and on an ammonium-oxalate treated sample (treated LR), in order to investigate the adsorption mechanisms and the main functional groups involved and relate the adsorptive capacity with the chemical and molecular characteristics of the adsorbates. The HA extracted with 0.5 N NaOH solution from a coal sample (HAc) and from a Mollisol sample (HAs) were characterized by elemental analysis and 13C-NMR spectroscopy. The experimental […]

The influence of no-till (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) systems, native forest (NF) and grassland (G), on the population density and biomass of Oligochaeta Amynthas spp., at Campos Gerais in the state of Paraná, Brazil, was evaluated monthly between February 1993 and January 1994. For the NT and CT systems, the areas were cultivated with corn, triticale and soybean, while, the native field consisted of vegetation of steppes of low grasses and a range forest of gallery forest. The population […]

The quality of semi-detailed (scale 1:100.000) soil maps and the utility of a taxonomically based legend were assessed by studying 33 apparently homogeneous fields with strongly weathered soils in two regions in São Paulo State: Araras and Assis. An independent data set of 395 auger sites was used to determine purity of soil mapping units and analysis of variance within and between mapping units and soil classification units. Twenty three soil profiles were studied in detail. The studied soil maps […]