Volume 21, Number 4, 1997

Two methods were evaluated for scaling a set of semivariograms into a unified function for kriging estimation of field-measured properties. Scaling is performed using sample variances and sills of individual semivariograms as scale factors. Theoretical developments show that kriging weights are independent of the scaling factor which appears simply as a constant multiplying both sides of the kriging equations. The scaling techniques were applied to four sets of semivariograms representing spatial scales of 30 x 30 m to 600 x […]

A quantitative model of water movement within the immediate vicinity of an individual root is developed and results of an experiment to validate the model are presented. The model is based on the assumption that the amount of water transpired by a plant in a certain period is replaced by an equal volume entering its root system during the same time. The model is based on the Darcy-Buckingham equation to calculate the soil water matric potential at any distance from […]

Samples of A and B horizons of a humic red-yellow latosol with a clayey texture were incubated in salt solutions of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn under greenhouse conditions at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil, from March to September 1994. The main objectives were to adapt a method for fractional extraction of metals and to evaluate their behavior in soluble, exchangeable, bound to organic matter, bound to Al oxides, bound to Fe oxides, and residual forms. The […]

Kinetics studies of potassium release from soils can improve our knowledge about its availability to plants. The present study, carried out in 1993, was undertaken to investigate the kinetics of potassium release and to compare four kinetics equations to describe the K-release from three soils of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Samples of A horizons of a Vertisol, of an Ultisol and of an Oxisol, were equilibrated with a cation exchange resin (IR-120) from one minute up […]

This work was undertaken at the State University of North Fluminense (UENF), State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, under greenhouse conditions, in the first semester of 1996, to evaluate the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the process of nitrogen transfer from bean to maize plants using the isotope 15N. Special pots divided in three sections (A, B and C), were constructed and either no barrier and a nylon mesh screen (40 ∝m) (which allowed the AMF hyphae to […]

The response of “trema” (Trema micrantha (L) Blum.) and “fedegoso” (Senna macranthera Rich.), both native woody species, to phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N) and inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) was studied in pots using a low-fertility clayey Dark Red-Latosol (Oxisol) Sample. The study, composed of two experiments, was carried out under greenhouse conditions at the Soil Science Department of Universidade Federal de Lavras, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from march 1993 to april 1994. Both species grew poorly in the […]

Nitrogen mineralization potential (No) for ten Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, soils was studied with corn grown on 20 kg pots for 45 days, as compared with nitrogen mineralized in aerobic incubation for 32 weeks. No values ranged from 108.6 to 210.8 mg kg-1, being similar to the total nitrogen mineralized. Mineralization velocity was higher during the first four weeks, and overall mineralization rate varied from 0.2985 to 0.3181 week-1 among soils. The correlation coefficient between corn absorbed nitrogen and […]

Although periodically flooded ecosystems represent 25% of the total Amazon area, they contribute to 75% of timber production. Both periodically flooded and upland ecosystems are greatly diverse in species belonging to Leguminosae family. Some of these species are currently exploited, but the economic potential of the vast majority has been overlooked. The knowledge of the plant growth characteristics of these species under nursery conditions is the first step to understand their biology and establish artificial woodlands in deforested areas. This […]

An experiment was carried out in a greenhouse, with the surface layer of a clayey Red Yellow Latosol placed in plastic pots. A 4x3x4 factorial was used. Lime rates (0; 380; 760 and 1140 mg kg-1 of soil) and potassium rates (0; 40 and 120 mg kg-1 of soil) and alfalfa cultivars (Crioula, Moapa, Florida77 and CUF101) were studied. A randomized complete block design, with four replications, was used. Plants were harvested 70 days after sowing and allowed to regrow. […]

Aiming to evaluate the phosphorus availability in five Amazonian soil samples, amended with different phosphates, a pot trial was carried out under greenhouse conditions at the Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Piracicaba (SP,Brazil), from october, 1993 to march, 1994, using the soils: medium texture Yellow Latosol, clayey Yellow Latosol, very clayey Yellow Latosol, clayey Red-Yellow Podzolic and very clayey Red-Yellow Podzolic. Four phosphate sources were applied (triple superphosphate, fine yoorin thermophosphate, granular yoorin thermophosphate and North Caroline rock phosphate) […]