Available soil phosphorus is maintained by less labile form that, in the long term, can become available to the plants. The aim of this research was to determine the depletion of various inorganic phosphorus fractions after successive extraction with resin. Soil samples were collected in four long-term experiments under no tillage or conventional tillage systems with different crop sequence. The soils (heavy clay Rhodic Hapludox, clay Rhodic Hapludox and clay loam Rhodic Paleudult) were collected from three depths, 0-2.5, 2.5-7.5 […]

Liming influences some electrochemical properties of soils of variable charge that may affect clay dispersion and aggregate stability. This hypothesis was tested after five years of incorporation of increasing rates of limestone (0, 4.5, 9.0, 13.5 and 18 t ha-1) into a Brown Latosol (Haplohumox). Dolimitic limestone was plowed down to 17 cm depth into the soil during the spring of 1992 when field plots began to be cultivated annually with continuous corn. Soil samples used in this work were […]

The first steps of molecular signal exchange between the bean plant and its Rhizobium spp. microsymbionts were studied. The effects on nodulation of the addition of seed exudates of two different leguminous tree plants, Mimosa flocculosa or Leucaena leucocephala, in the presence of R. tropici, R. etli or R. leguminosarum bv. phaseoli were studied. The expression of nod genes was also measured “in vitro” by the activity of ß-glucuronidase on different genetically modified strains possessing the fusion nodA::gusA, using as […]

Urea and uan were side-dressed applied on the soil surface and incorporated (5-7 cm) to corn in a no-tillage system to study the balance of urea-N (15N) at harvest and measure the accumulated losses of NH3-N derived from these sources and from urea + KCl (solid) and uan + KCl (liquid), applied as 06-00-09 (N-P2O5-K2O) to the surface only. The treatments-originated from a factorial 1 + (2 x 2) + 2, with plot being + factorial 2 x 2 (two […]

The highly weathered soils developed in the humid tropics have low nutrient reserve in the coarse fractions. To evaluate K and Mg total contents in minerals in the sand and silt fractions, soil samples developed from different parent materials and weathering degree from MG, ES, RS and RR states, Brazil, were selected to be analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetry and electron microscopy. The total contents of K and Mg of the whole soil and its fractions […]

Enhanced degradation of the fungicide metalaxyl was investigated in two soils: a gley humic (GH) and a Dark Red Latosol (LE), collected at sites never exposed to the fungicide. The soil samples were treated with successive applications of metalaxyl as a commercial formulation and 14C-metalaxyl in laboratory. Metalaxyl biodegradation was analyzed during 63 days by means of radiometric techniques to verify biomineralization and degradation product formation from the applied 14C-metalaxyl. Although biomineralization (maximum of 14 and 8% in the GH […]

Erosion is one of the main causes of soil degradation because of the transport of nutrients. The nutrients are transported by water either dissolved or adsorbed on the soil particles, and the erosion rate may vary according to the tillage system. This work was conducted at the Centro de Ciências Agroveterinárias in Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazil, from January 1993 to October 1998, to quantify the losses of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and organic carbon due to erosion caused by natural […]

Soil compaction of the agricultural soils is a result of soil machine interactions, which influence physical and biological soil properties and their relations with crop growth and yield. The objective of this study was to determine the compression index, the preconsolidation pressure and the soil strain of a Haplortox (LE) and a Paleudalf (PV), with different initial state of compaction and water saturation. Undisturbed soil samples were collected in two soils and at two depths, at no tillage and conventional […]

The purpose of this work was to verify the effect of hidroretentive polymers on the physical and hydraulic properties of two porous media. The experiments were carried out at the Soil Physics Laboratory at the Federal University of Paraná from 03/18 to 10/30/97. The research was developed using a Belgium type of retentive polymer incorporated in two porous media with their different physico-chemical properties; a Dark Red Oxisol and Marine Quartzous sand. The polymers were applied as dried grains at […]

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 […]