Volume 35, Number 5, 2011

The Cerrado (Brazilian Savannah) plays an important economic and financial role in the nation, since the pastures of this biome feed cattle for half of the domestic bovine meat productivity, and its agricultural fields produce a third of the country’s grain. The variability and spatial dependence between the soil physical attributes and soybean yield were evaluated in a crop rotation planted on a degraded brachiaria pasture, on a dystroferric Red Latosol of an experimental farm of the State University of […]

Knowledge of the soil physical properties, including the clay content, is of utmost importance for agriculture. The behavior of apparently similar soils can differ in intrinsic characteristics determined by different formation processes and nature of the parent material. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of separate or combined pre-treatments, dispersion methods and chemical dispersant agents to determine clay in some soil classes, selected according to their mineralogy. Two Brazilian Oxisols, two Alfisols and one Mollisol with […]

Studies have proven that the agroforestry systems in the semi-arid region of the State of Ceará, Brazil, induce an increase in soil organic C levels. Notwithstanding, there is no information if this increase also results in qualitative changes in different pools of soil organic matter. The objective of this study was to verify the possible chemical and structural alterations in fulvic and humic acids of a Luvisol in areas adopting agroforestry, traditional intensive cultivation and native forest in a long-term […]

Peats are an important reserve of humified carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. The interest in the use of humic substances as plant growth promoters is continuously increasing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the bioactivity of alkaline soluble humic substances (HS), humic (HA) and fulvic acids (FA) isolated from peats with different decomposition stages of organic matter (sapric, fibric and hemic) in the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional, state of Minas Gerais. Dose-response curves were established for the number of […]

Sodium pyrophosphate is the most widely used extractant of Al bound to soil organic matter (Al-humus). However, its selectivity has been questioned, so that some authors have proposed the use of substitutional extractants. To evaluate the effectiveness of unbuffered Cu (CuCl2), La (LaCl3) and K (KCl) chlorides to extract Al-humus, soil material from 31 representative pedons of Spodosols and Quartzipsamments from sandy coastal plains of São Paulo State was evaluated. The results were compared with those achieved by sodium pyrophosphate. […]

The soils used for irrigated rice by flooding in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, are derived from different source material and are subjected to temporal variations in oxidation and reduction conditions. These conditions contribute to variations in total concentrations and crystallinity of iron oxides and manganese, which are related to sorption and desorption processes, affecting P availability to irrigated rice. With the objective of verifying P sorption and availability to rice in soils from different parent materials, […]

In agricultural systems the N-NH4+ and N-NO3– contents is significantly affected by soil management. This study investigated the dynamics of inorganic nitrogen (N; NH4+ and NO3–) in an experimental evaluation of soil management systems (SMSs) adopted in 1988 at the experimental station of the ABC Foundation in Ponta Grossa, in the Central South region of the State of Paraná. The objective of this study was to evaluate the changes in N-NH4+ and N-NO3– flux in the surface layer of a […]

Nitrogen is the main limiting factor in crop productivity and thereby soil management systems may change the mineralization and nitrification rates. In an experiment on soil management systems implemented in 1988 at the experimental station Fundação ABC, Ponta Grossa, in the central South region of the State of Paraná, inorganic N dynamics were examined to find a soil management strategy with a view to a sustainable environment. The objective of this study was to calculate the net mineralization and nitrification […]

Sugar cane plays an important economic-social and political role in Brazil. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of manganese doses and sources on sugar cane. The experiment was conducted on the Sitio Fujimoto, an area administered by the Distillery Vale do Paraná S/A Alcohol and Sugar in Suzanápolis, São Paulo state. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block, 5 x 3 factorial design, with 5 manganese rates (0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 kg ha-1) and 3 sources […]

Fertilizer recommendations in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina (RS and SC) states are based on studies of crops grown under conventional tillage and knowledge accumulated over the years. In this period, the crop system and soil sampling depth were altered and crop yields increased; this can affect the critical values of K, the fertility status and fertilizer quantity required by crops. This study aimed to determine the levels of available K extracted by Mehlich-1, Mehlich-3 and ion-exchange resin […]