Volume 32, Number n.spe, 2008

Araucaria angustifolia is an endangered tree species in Brazil and little is known about the soil attributes of these pine forests. This study was carried out to identify differences between natural and reforested Araucaria areas, in terms of soil microbiological and chemical attributes, with multivariate canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) and canonical correlation analysis (CCA). The studied areas included: 1. native forest with Araucaria (NF); 2. Araucaria reforestation (R); 3. Araucaria reforestation burnt by an accidental fire (RF); and 4. native […]

There is no information about the diversity of springtails associated with Araucaria angustifolia (Bert.) O. Kuntze forests in Brazil. This study was carried out to evaluate the potential of springtail family diversity as a soil quality indicator and to separate different Araucaria areas, using soil chemical and microbiological attributes as explanatory variables. The study was conducted in four areas of: 1. native forest with predominance of Araucaria (NF); 2. Araucaria reforestation (R); 3. Araucaria reforestation burnt by an accidental fire […]

The expansion of the soybean crop has evidenced a high host specificity, indicating the requirement of new strains with capacity of nodulating soybean and competition capacity with the natural soil rhizobial population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the host specificity of mutants isolated from Bradyrhizobium spp strains in relation to nodulation and relative N2 fixation effectiveness in soybean (cultivars Peking and Clark), cowpea and pigeon pea. The experiment was carried out under controlled conditions in a growth […]

In Brazil, the species Pinus elliottii and Terminalia ivorensis are being recommended for reforestation. However, little is known about the ecological characteristics of such forests, the nutrient cycle and possible consequences on yields and sustainability under tropical conditions. For a better understanding of the C dynamic in these ecosystems, this study aimed to evaluate the microbial activity of soil, litter, and the mixture of soil + litter in forest stands of P. elliottii and T. ivorensis. Samples of soil, litter […]

Nitrogen is an important nutrient, due to its soil dynamics and crop demand. The amount of N supplied by the soil is however frequently insufficient, and N fertilization is required to obtain maximum yields. This study was conducted with the objective of evaluating different sources and periods of N application in no till wheat. A randomized block design was used in a factorial scheme 2×6 with four replications. The treatments consisteded of the combination of two N sources: Urea and […]

Forest management practices can alter nutrient exportation from the site. The purpose of this study was to estimate nutrient contents in the aboveground biomass of eucalyptus plantations in Brazil. The influence of key climatic variables on eucalypt productivity and nutrient content was evaluated, using the database from the Reserch Programa on Soil and Eucalyptus Nutrition of the Soil Science, Departament – Federal University of Viçosa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Climatic characteristics were an important component of the models. In regions […]

Soil fertility is defined as the capacity of the soil to supply nutrients, in a balanced proportion for plant growth and productivity, in the absence of toxic elements. This concept, based on the mineralist theory, is widely used around the world. With the shift away from conventional systems, high crop yields are frequently obtained under no-tillage, even where soil fertility indexes are considered inadequate, according to soil fertilizer recommendations for the conventional system. It is possible that the traditional evaluation, […]

In the paddy rice soils in the of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, most inorganic P is bound to Fe oxides. It is expected that an extractant that has the capacity to extract P adsorbed to these oxides would be more efficient to evaluate the availabil-ity to rice plants. A study was carried out in a greenhouse, with five soils samples from the State of Rio Grande do Sul, to evaluate P availability to rice, extracted by the following […]

Multielement soil extractant solutions are used by several soil testing laboratories to determine the plant availability of several nutrients by the same extractant, to decrease costs and labor. The Mehlich-1 (M1) and Mehlich-3 (M3) solutions are often used for this purpose. In this study, they were used to evaluate soil P availability using 360 soil samples of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Southern Brazil). The correlation coefficients between the P concentrations extracted by these solutions were strongly associated […]

The experiment was conducted with the sugar cane variety SP81 3250, in a commercial area of the sugar mill São Martinho (Pradópolis-SP), on a clay-texture Rhodic eutrustox. The experimental had a randomized block design with four replications. Bags containing straw enriched with 15N (1.07 % 15N atoms) equivalent to 9 t ha-1 dry matter were placed on the soil surface between the sugar cane plant rows in all treatments (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg ha-1 of N). After 14 […]