Nutrient transport towards root surface can be accomplished by mass flow or by mass flow and diffusion, depending on the activity of the nutrient in the soil solution, and on the nutrient demand of the plant. The objective of this greenhouse experiment was to verify the contribution of the mechanisms of mass flow and diffusion for supplying potassium, calcium and magnesium to rice plants. Samples of a clayey Oxysol were treated with Na2CO3, K2CO3, CaCO3 and MgCO3 as amendments. Seventy-five […]

Maghemite (γFe2O3) from tuffite is exceptionally rich in Mg, relatively to most of those reportedly found in other mafic lithosystems. To investigate in detail the compositional and structural variabilities of this natural magnetic iron oxide, sets of crystals were isolated from samples collected at different positions in a tuffite weathering mantle. These sets of crystal were individually powdered and studied by X-ray diffractometry, Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetization measurements and chemical analysis. Lattice parameter of the cubic cell (a0) was found to […]

Additional soil compaction occurs when the pressure applied on the soil is greater than the preconsolidation pressure, causing the soil to deform along the virgin compression line. The objectives of this study were: to validate the model proposed by Dias Junior (1994); to propose a model to quantify soil mechanical resistance and; to evaluate the effect of soil use and moisture on the virgin compression line and on the compression index of three Latosols under annual crop, natural forest and […]

Inadequate water application is one of the reasons of poor initial plant stand for irrigated maize. This problem is more serious in some soils with superficial crusting after sprinkler irrigation or rainfall. The effect of different water management criteria on maize emergence was evaluated in three soils: Dark-Red Latosol (LE), in Sete Lagoas, and Yellow-Red Latosol (LV) and Alluvial soil, in Janaúba, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The treatments were based on different strategies for supplying water to soil. A combination […]

The cessation of growth of native forage during winter has encouraged the improvement of native grasslands. Aiming to study water intake rates and soil and water losses by erosion as affected by different methods of native grassland improvement, an experiment was conducted at the Agronomic Experimental Station of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Eldorado do Sul, Brazil, on a Paleudult soil under extensive native grassland use. A mixture of winter species of forage, specifically oat (Avena […]

Hydraulic conductivity is one of the most important soil properties for studies dealing with infiltration, water movement within the soil profile and to plant roots and internal drainage. The availability of the function hydraulic conductivity x soil water content (K(θ)) is essential to these studies. However, little is known about the variability of the empirical parameters of this function. Aiming to contribute with information on the variability of these parameters, a study is described in which observations of hydraulic conductivity […]

The objective of this work was to determine carbon and nitrogen content in the soil microbial biomass by comparing microwave radiation and chloroform fumigation using the extraction and incubation methods. Two soil samples (Dark-Red Podzolic) were submitted to incubation and extraction after chloroform fumigation and microwave radiation during different periods (2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 and 50 min). Two minutes under microwave radiation were sufficient to determine C and N content in the soil biomass using incubation and […]

The yield of 36 cacao trees (Theobroma cacao L.) on a farm in Itagibá, Bahia, Brazil were evaluated during the period of 1989-1995. The averages of the three highest yields (rainier years) and of the three lowest yields (drier years) of each area were considered the main variables. The variables were the chemical characteristics (pH in H2O and in KCl, organic carbon, total N, Al, Ca, Mg, P, K, Na, Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, H + Al and the remaining […]

The objective of this work was to studying the spatial variability of some chemical properties of a saline-sodic soil of alluvial origin, in the Irrigated Perimeter of São Gonçalo, district of Sousa-PB, Brazil. At an experimental area of 2912 m2, soil samples were collected in a grid with a spacing of 4 x 4 m, at a layer depth of 0 to 0.30 m. The data analysis was carried out by means of descriptive statistics and geostatistics. The results showed […]

The objective of this experiment was to quantify the extramatrical mycelium of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus etunicatum (Becker & Gerdemann) grown on maize (Zea mays L. var. Piranão) provided with various levels of phosphate fertilizer and harvested at 30, 60 and 90 days after planting (DAP). Total extramatrical mycelium (TEM) was extracted from soil using a modified membrane filtration method, followed by quantification using a grid intersection technique. Active extramatrical mycelium (AEM) proportion was determined using an enzymatic […]