ABSTRACT Extracellular soil enzymes are fundamental for the functioning of ecosystems. Several processes in the soil depend on the activity of these enzymes, including plant decomposition, soil organic matter formation/mineralization, and nutrient cycling. Moreover, extracellular enzyme activity occurs in the soil and is therefore influenced by environmental factors. Due to the high sensitivity to these factors, extracellular enzymes are used for monitoring soil quality. This review aimed to present the main contributions of soil enzymes to agriculture, emphasizing the dynamics […]

ABSTRACT The concept of attitude toward soil is emerging, with a slim choice of scales available to collect hard data. There is also a dearth of standard scales to acquire precise data on students’ knowledge of soil. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were: (1) to devise appropriate scales to quantify theoretical soil knowledge and attitude toward soil, and (2) to quantify the effect of laboratory studies and fieldwork on students’ theoretical soil knowledge and attitude toward soil. The […]

ABSTRACT Erosion process occurs naturally, shaping the Earth’s surface. Soil loss can cause harmful effects to the environment when intensive anthropic activities occur. Mathematical models have been used as effective and less costly alternatives for identifying sites highly prone to soil loss, especially at the watershed scale. In Brazil, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is one of the most commonly used soil loss prediction models. The RUSLE requires information on soil erodibility, rainfall erosivity, topography, land use and […]

ABSTRACT Global agricultural production is expected to double by 2050 due to both global population increase and changes in diets as a consequence of growing incomes. This also means more pressure on water resources, as agriculture accounts for 70 % of global water withdrawal and for energy production as the entire food supply chain accounts for about 30 % of total global energy consumption. Although there are ongoing discussions related to the sustainability of food, water, and energy sectors, integrating […]

ABSTRACT Close association of iron mining and ferruginous rupestrian grassland places this ecosystem in a special condition of vulnerability, with a large number of degraded areas requiring restoration. Seedling transplantation and topsoil translocation can be used to recover native vegetation in degraded areas. This study aimed to experimentally test the application of two different topsoil depths (0.20 and 0.40 m) in a degraded area. We assessed the vegetation’s natural recovery and the survival of transplanted native species from rescue operations […]

ABSTRACT Multitemporal collections of satellite images and their products have recently been explored in digital soil mapping. This study aimed to produce a bare soil image (BSI) for the São Paulo State (Brazil) to perform a pedometric analysis for different geographical levels. First, we assessed the potential of the BSI for predicting the surface (0.00-0.20 m) and subsurface (0.80-1.00 m) clay, iron oxides (Fe 2 O 3 ), aluminum (m%) and bases saturation (V%) contents at the state level, which […]

ABSTRACT Soil maps provide a method for graphically communicating what is known about the spatial distribution of soil properties in nature. We proposed an optimized pipeline, named dino-soil toolbox, programmed in the R software for mapping quantitative and categorical properties of legacy soil data. The pipeline, composed of four main modules (data preprocessing, covariates selection, exploratory data analysis and modeling), was tested across a study area of 14,537 km 2 located between the departments of Cesar and Magdalena, Colombia. We […]

ABSTRACT This review presents the basic research and some applications of the gamma-ray attenuation, neutron gauges, and 137Cs fallout techniques for studying soil physical processes and properties. The selected studies aimed to give the readers a general idea of the use of these nuclear techniques carried out by Brazilian researchers in the past decades. It is expected to assist future researchers by identifying knowledge gaps and opportunities for applying the methods presented here. Around 100 studies were selected for this […]

ABSTRACT Strategies to mitigate degradation and ensure food and water security are among the main challenges in agricultural development. Unconsolidated information about the positive impact of conservationist practices on productivity increase is fundamental for their adoption by farmers. This study evaluated if the saved rainfall excess in catchment with terrace generates higher soybean and corn yield due to greater water availability in the crop rooting zone. Experiments were conducted in southern Brazil during the agricultural years of 2016/17 (soybean) and […]

ABSTRACT Molybdenum (Mo) availability is strongly affected by soil pH, which determines the dynamics of electrical charges and the adsorption of molybdate. This study evaluated the effects of nitrogen (N) and Mo application on the chemical properties of a Latossolo Amarelo (Oxisol) and in Coffea canephora nutrition and productivity throughout two productive cycles under field conditions. The experiment was conducted from June 2018 to May 2020. The experimental design used was in randomized blocks, in a 2 × 5 factorial […]