Volume 22, Number 4, 1998

A four replicated maize (Zea mays L.) crop irrigation management experiment was carried out in a Typic Haphortox soil of Guaíra (SP), Brazil (20°27’30”S, 48°19’30”W, 495 m) from July to December, 1994. There were three treatments: tr000 – half of the recommended amount of water was applied during the crop cycle; tr0I0 – the recommended amount of water was applied only during the intermediate stage and half of it during the initial and the final stages; and trIII – the […]

Soil physical attributes, i. e., soil water potential, soil oxygen, and soil strength, directly affect plant growth. The least limiting water range (LLWR) is the range of soil water content within which plant growth is least limited by water potential, aeration and mechanical resistance and has not been evaluated in tropical soils. The objective of this research was to characterize the LLWR of a Typic Hapludox cropped to corn under no-tillage. Seventy-two undisturbed soil samples were collected at the crop […]

Representative soil profiles from the Agroindustrial District of Jaíba in northern Minas Gerais State, Brazil, were morphologically described, sampled and chemically, physically and mineralogically analyzed, to obtain data which could contribute to their improved utilization. Although the parent material was almost the same (Bambuí group limestone), and the apparent physiographical homogeneity (flat relief and deciduous forest), the soils presented great morphological, chemical and mineralogical diversity. From a mineralogical standpoint, illite and kaolinite are common minerals, the latter found even in […]

Total and soluble boron contents were evailable by means of three extractors, used as plant availability indexes, in order to study their relationships with soil properties in representative mapping units of the state of Ceará, Brazil. Composite soil samples from the surface soil layers (0-20 cm) of Quartz Sands (AQd), Alluvium (Ae), Planosol (PL), Bruno non Calcic (NC), Cambisol (Ce), Red-Yellow Podzol (PV), Red-Yellow Latosol (LV) and Littosol (Re) were used. Total boron was determined after fusion with sodium carbonate […]

The extraction of humic substances (HS) from A-horizons of two soils from Rio Grande do Sul (Oxisol, LR, and Mollisol, BZ) and from an organic sludge (LO) was investigated, employing two methods: (1) the HS were extracted with 0.5 mol L-1 NaOH, after treating the sample with 0.5 mol L-1 HCl; (2) the extraction with 0.15 mol L-1 sodium pyrophosphate solution (pH 7) was introduced before the alkaline and after the acid treatments. In each step, the contents of HS, […]

This study was carried out in the field to evaluate root colonization of three Eucalyptus grandis x E. urophylla hybrids by mycorrhizal fungi as affected by soil conditions. Roots of three clonal trees, each five year old, were evaluated in regard to colonization by ectomycorrhizal and by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, in three areas of the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil, at four different times (July and October, 1992; January and April, 1993). The percentage of mycorrhizal colonization was dependent on […]

The objective of this study was to study the effects of soil macrofauna on physical and chemical attributes and spectral reflectance of an Oxisol, Ultisol and Vertisol in Piracicaba (SP), Brazil. Along a topossequence, the soil aggregates produced by ants (Atta sp.), termites (Cornitermes cumulans) and earthworms (Pontoscolex corethrurus), were collected and compared with the control soil without recent visible animal activity. Soil chemical analysis and granulometry were carried out. The soil spectral behavior was determined in laboratory with a […]

Mining and metallurgical activities are responsible for pollution of extensive soil areas around the world, with their effects not being well known under Brazilian conditions. Total and water soluble contents of heavy metals and microbial density and activity were evaluated, in this 1996 study using samples from seven sites located in a dumping site of a zinc industry in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Additionally, a non-contaminated site was used as reference. All contaminated sites presented high total and […]

In this study, microbial biomass and its activity were evaluated on a soil submitted to crop rotations with wheat/soybean and wheat/maize under the no-tillage and conventional tillage systems. The evaluation was performed on an experiment established since 1976 at the Experimental Station of Instituto Agronômico do Paraná (IAPAR), Londrina (PR), Brazil. Soil samples were taken in the plough layer (0-15 cm) ten days after planting and seven days before harvesting summer and winter crops during 1992, 1993 and 1994. The […]

The experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions at the Soil Science Department of the Federal University of Lavras, Lavras, from August 1995 to June 1996. The objectives were to evaluate the application of limestone on several chemical properties and on the nutrition and production of common bean cultivated in samples of four lowland soils and to compare the doses established as appropriate according to base saturation and Al and Ca + Mg methods. A 6×4 factorial scheme in a completely […]