Volume 34, Number 6, 2010

Soils are a result of the interaction between forming factors and processes in the different landscapes of the Earth´s land surfaces. Long-term processes change landscapes and associated soil profiles. These changes result from gradual or catastrophic processes of eolian, tectonic and climatic or even human impact, and are generally irreversible, destroying the associated soils. Nevertheless, in particular situations soils may remain preserved in a specific area of the ancient landscape, embedded in sedimentary and volcanic sequences, resulting in the so-called […]

The Proctor test is time-consuming and requires sampling of several kilograms of soil. Proctor test parameters were predicted in Mollisols, Entisols and Vertisols of the Pampean region of Argentina under different management systems. They were estimated from a minimum number of readily available soil properties (soil texture, total organic C) and management (training data set; n = 73). The results were used to generate a soil compaction susceptibility model, which was subsequently validated using a second group of independent data (test data […]

The structural stability and restructuring ability of a soil are related to the methods of crop management and soil preparation. A recommended strategy to reduce the effects of soil preparation is to use crop rotation and cover crops that help conserve and restore the soil structure. The aim of this study was to evaluate and quantify the homogeneous morphological units in soil under conventional mechanized tillage and animal traction, as well as to assess the effect on the soil structure […]

This study had the purpose of evaluating the effects of two management types of sugarcane: harvesting of burnt cane (BCH) and mechanized harvesting of unburnt green cane (MCH), on some soil physical properties of a dystrophic Rhodic Haplustox. The data were then compared with results for the same soil type under native forest. A completely randomized design was used, with three treatments and 20 replications. The following characteristics were determined: organic matter, aggregate stability, soil bulk density, and porosity at […]

Common bean yield was analyzed in relation to some physical properties of a dystroferric Red Latosol (Typic Acrustox), in the 2006/07 growing season, in Selviria, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The no-tillage crop under center-pivot irrigation was cultivated with a high technological management level. The objective of this work was to select the most representative soil properties to explain the variability in agricultural productivity. A geostatistical grid was installed for soil and plant sampling at 117 points, in […]

To express the negative effects of soil compaction, some researchers use critical values for soil mechanical strength that severely impair plant growth. The aim of this study was to identify this critical compaction depth, to test the functionality of a new, portable penetrometer developed from a spring dynamometer, and compare it to an electronic penetrometer traditionally used in compaction studies of agricultural soils. Three soils with distinct texture were conventionally tilled using a disk plow, and cultivated with different plant […]

The soil-water retention curve (SWRC) is essential to understand the physical-hydric soil behavior. However, data for the construction of the SWRC are obtained in slow and expensive processes. This study hypothesized the possibility that SWRC could be constructed based on fewer tension data within a shorter time, without affecting the accuracy. The objective was to determine the tension data required for the construction of an accurate SWRC in less time. Undisturbed soil samples were collected from a Eutrophic Red Oxisol […]

The retention of mineral elements applied to the soil surface is crucial to maintain water quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of liquid swine manure and mineral fertilizer on leaching of P, Cu and Zn through undisturbed soil columns (height 25 cm, diameter 20.3 cm) of an Oxisol under no tillage. A water volume (10.020 cm3) corresponding to three times soil total pore volume (3,340 cm3) was continuously applied to the columns, and the sampling and analysis of the […]

Salinity levels in soils of the Outer Coastal Plain of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, can be high, due to excess of Na in the irrigation water, evapotranspiration and soil development from marine sediments. The cultivation of irrigated rice could be an alternative, since ion uptake as well as leaching by the establishment of a water layer could mitigate the effects of soil salinity. This study aimed to evaluate the dynamics of basic cations in the solution of Albaqualf soils […]

Kinetics studies of heavy metal release are an important form of environmental diagnostics in contaminated areas, due to the possibility of determining, aside from the total release contents after increasing equilibrium times, the rate (velocity) of heavy metal to soil solution. The objective of this study was to determined Pb kinetics release from soils of the heavy metal mining and metallurgy area in Adrianópolis (PR), Brazil, in the Ribeira river valley. Eight soils were exposed to different contamination forms: (soils […]