Volume 32, Number 3, 2008

Due to the building of the Hydroelectric Power Plant of Ilha Solteira, in the late 60s, some areas have been deforested and were used as “loan areas”. Thus, the soils belonging to these locations were subtracted and these areas’ physical, chemical and biological properties became inappropriate. This work aimed at evaluating the use of chemical and organic fertilization to improve the degraded subsoil and replanting with mycorrhizal Stryphnodendron polyphyllum (“barbatimão”). The area is located at the Experimental Station (FEPE), UNESP/Ilha […]

Rainfall erosivity represents the potential of rainfall causing soil erosion. This study aimed to develop a software to estimate rainfall erosivity in the state of Minas Gerais based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). The annual value of the rainfall erosivity is given by the sum of the monthly values of the erosivity indexes EI30 or KE > 25. Two methodologies were used to estimate the kinetic energy for each index. Thus, four erosivity values were evaluated for each month, resulting […]

The knowledge of farmers about the use of land can assist in soils survels. This study was conducted on the Fazenda Americana, located in northwester Minas Gerais State, Brazil, to relate the local knowledge of the environments to soil chemical and physical attributes and to the Land Use Capacity System, with an Agrarian reform focus. Based on the local knowledge seven environments were identified: baixa, vereda, chapada, tabuleiro, carrasco, tabuleiro misto and espigão (terms roughly translatable as: lowland, palm swamp, […]