ABSTRACT In sandy areas of Northern Shaanxi, after potato harvest, there are large areas of soil exposed to wind erosion from winter to spring, leading to degradation of soil quality. Planting cover crops in fallow fields is considered effective to improve soil biological properties; however, there is scarce study on the effect of winter cover crops on fallow soils in this region. In the study lasting from 2017 to 2019, four winter cover crops, i.e., alfalfa (AC), sweetclover (SC), winter […]

ABSTRACT Soils originating from the Caiuá sandstone formation have low soil organic matter (SOM), clay content, and cation exchange capacity (CEC). The predominance of one component over the other might decisively influence the CEC of these soils. Particle size distribution and selective dissolution procedures associated to a suit of methods to determine the exchangeable capacity properties might clarify the relative importance of each soil component. The objective of this work was to evaluate the contribution of the different components of […]

ABSTRACT One of the challenges in rice areas is the sustainable post-harvest system, which involves using rice straw management and cover crop species. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the emission of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) with the use of different post-harvest management of rice straw as well as with the combined use of ryegrass. A field experiment was conducted during the 2016 off-season and 2016/17 rice crop season with different post-harvest rice straw management: maintaining […]

ABSTRACT Cultivated soils, when submitted to agricultural practices, tend to compact due to the pressure exerted by agricultural machines and implements, a process that compromises soil quality and system sustainability. Specific properties of each soil, such as particle size and organic matter content, interfere with the process and degree of compaction and, consequently, plant growth. This study aimed to analyze the effect of different degrees of compaction (DC) on soil physical properties and black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb) growth. For […]

ABSTRACT Most of the forensic comparison of soils has focused on the clay and silt fractions at the expense of the coarser particles. This study aimed to test the potential of elemental and physical analyses in the sand fraction from subtropical soils to discriminate samples collected in areas under different parent material (claystone and marble) and in areas with the same parent material at a simulated crime scene. Scanning electron microscopy coupled to an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDS) analysis […]

ABSTRACT Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global climate change. The N2O soil emissions have a large uncertainty because of its low atmospheric concentration levels and enormous spatial and temporal variability, which hinders its correct field measurement. For this reason, there are many papers focused on improving the N2O measurements in the field, which focus on different parts of the measurement process. However, no studies have focused on determining the appropriate method, in terms of […]

ABSTRACT Soil beetles’ communities are responsible for many ecosystem services, and are very sensitive to environmental changes. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the abundance and diversity of the soil coleoptera fauna under uses and management and also to identify relationships of the beetle community with soil’s physical and chemical properties. The experiment had six experimental plots set up an Oxisol (Latossolo): corn (CO), soybean (SO), 7-year-old eucalyptus (EI), 4-year-old eucalyptus (EII), preserved Cerrado (PC), and disturbed Cerrado (DC). Soil […]

ABSTRACT Given the influence of edaphic macrofauna in the physical, chemical, and biological processes that sustain the organic matter cycle in the soil of tropical ecosystems, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of the sequence: Secondary Forest – Pasture – Eucalyptus monoculture on the macrofauna structure in Southeast of Pará State, Brazil. In each land use system, two 350 m transect were taken. The data was collected in 8 sampling sites, which were 50 m apart in each transect […]

ABSTRACT Simulation models are efficient tools to predict the fate of different solutes in agricultural soils. This work aimed to compare measured and predicted glyphosate and AMPA (aminomethyl phosphonic acid; its main metabolite) contents in a soil under no-tillage (NT), and conventional tillage (CT); and to compare the predictions considering constant and time-variable hydraulic properties. Additionally, we evaluated the ability of the model to predict glyphosate and AMPA accumulation during the crop cycle. Hydrus 1-D code was used to predict […]

ABSTRACT Chemical soil analysis data can be expressed by weight (i.e., gravimetric basis) or volume (i.e., volumetric basis) of the fine earth (sieved ≥2 mm), resulting in different units, cmolc kg-1 and cmolc dm-3, respectively. The research problem is that the difference between methods to express the same soil properties hinders the comparison of results and database or dataset standardization. This paper aims to develop pedotransfer functions (PTF) to obtain the density of fine earth, which will then be used […]