Volume 24, Number 2, 2000

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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Phosphate solubilization by bacteria and fungi grown in broth media (glucose-yeast extract/GYE) supplied with phosphate (Ca-P, Al-P and Fe-P) and carbon sources (cellulose, starch, sucrose, glucose, fructose and xylose) was evaluated under laboratory conditions. Growth, halo diameter, colony diameter and halo/colony ratio varied according to the microorganisms and phosphate or carbon sources. From 57 isolates, 56 were able to solubilize Ca-P with differing halo diameters, five succeeded to solubilize Al-P at different ranges and none was able to solubilize Fe-P. […]

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 […]

The objective of this work was to study the association between soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. cv. IAC 8) and two different arbuscular-mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (Gigaspora margarita or Glomus intraradices), grown under increasing rates of phosphorus (0, 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg kg1) and harvested at four times (15, 30, 60 and 90 days). The assessed variables were: shoot dry weight, pod dry weight, root colonization by AM fungi, the concentrations of N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Fe, […]