Volume 42, 2018

ABSTRACT Several complications can arise, either directly or indirectly, from implementation of measures to correct soil acidity in established fruit orchards, such as impaired roots, lower root volume, risk of plant infection, propagation of diseases, promotion of pest development (especially nematodes), and soil disaggregation and compaction. These factors can have a negative effect on crop yield. Therefore, it becomes critical to implement an effective method of neutralizing soil acidity, especially at the level of the tree roots. To assess the […]

ABSTRACT Soil temperature is a physical property of great agricultural importance in the soil-plant relationship and in energy exchange with the atmosphere. This study was conducted in a degraded Cambissolo Háplico Ta Eutrófíco (Cambisol; Inceptisol) in the Irecê Identity Territory, Bahia, Brazil, aiming to evaluate the hourly, daily, and monthly fluctuations of soil temperature at depth, and soil thermal diffusivity in the castor bean crop. Hourly soil temperature data from February 4, 2014, to September 30, 2015, were obtained by […]

ABSTRACT: The great geological and soil variation in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, indicates the need for regional studies to understand the geochemical background of soils. The Rio Doce Basin became a priority area for geochemical background determination after the rupture of the tailings dam of Fundão in 2015. In this context, the objectives of this study were to propose Reference Values of Soil Quality in the Rio Doce Basin, to define variables that can predict metal(loid) concentrations in […]

ABSTRACT Crotalaria juncea is used as plant cover in grape vineyards in Brazil, which usually present soils with high copper (Cu) levels due to the application of Cu-based phyto-sanitary products. Under this condition an increase growth and cover of C. juncea is needed to improve the phytoremediation processes in those soils. Some alternatives to achieve this condition is the inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which has demonstrated an important increase of plant growth in Cu-contaminated soils at different soil […]

ABSTRACT: Soil water retention and availability are important properties for agricultural production, which can be measured directly or estimated by pedotransfer functions. Some studies on this topic were carried out in Santa Catarina, Brazil. To improve the estimates, it is necessary to evaluate other properties, to analyze more soil types, as well as to use other analysis techniques such as artificial neural networks and regression trees. Thus, the objective of the study was to estimate the field capacity (FC), permanent […]

ABSTRACT The DayCent ecosystem model, widely tested in upland agroecosystems, was recently updated to simulate waterlogged soils. We evaluated the new version in a paddy rice experiment in Southern Brazil. DayCent was used to simulate rice yield, soil organic carbon (SOC), and soil CH4 fluxes. Model calibration was conducted with a multiple-year dataset from the conventional tillage treatment, followed by a validation phase with data from the no-tillage treatment. Model performance was assessed with statistics commonly used in modeling studies: […]

ABSTRACT: Extremely kaolinitic soils of Tertiary age elevations on the Brazilian east coast present a wide range of texture, which is recognized as one of the main factors controlling the soil organic matter contents. This study aimed to investigate the organic C storage of different compartments of kaolinitic soils. The studied soils had a wide particle size gradient, were under native forest vegetation, and located on Brazil’s eastern coast (Coruripe – CF, Umbaúba – UF, Nova Viçosa – VF, Sooretama […]

ABSTRACT Wastewater treatment is a challenging problem faced by the mining industry, especially when mine effluents include acid mine drainage with elevated arsenic levels. Iron (hydr)oxides are known to be effective in removal of As from wastewater, and although the resulting compounds are relatively unstable, the presence of structural Al enhances their stability, particularly under reducing conditions. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Al-Fe (hydr)oxide co-precipitates for the removal of As from wastewater and to […]

ABSTRACT: Erodibility represents the intrinsic susceptibility of the soil to the erosion process, represented by the K factor in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). In Brazil, there are few field experiments determined with a series larger than ten years of data, which are the most reliable for quantifying the K factor. The aim of this study was to determine the K factor of the USLE by the direct method, relating soil losses determined in the field under standard conditions […]

ABSTRACT There is a complex interaction between various components of the soil ecosystem, including microbial biomass and soil chemical contaminants such as heavy metals and radionuclides, which may greatly affect the efficiency of bioremediation techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate microbial capacity to change pH, changes in the metal soluble-exchangeable fraction, and effects of initial heavy metal contents on soil samples in microbial solubilization/immobilization capacity. The soil samples used in this study were collected at a known […]