ABSTRACT Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, mainly no-tillage (NT), cover cropping (CC), soil fertilization with organic amendments (OA), and crop-livestock (CL) and crop-livestock-forestry (CLF) systems, has been widely adopted in areas from Brazilian Cerrado. The CSA may partly offset former soil C losses and contribute to climate change mitigation. However, contradictory findings brought uncertainties about the effect of CSA on soil C. Here, by a systematic review of 87 papers and using 621 data pairs, we provided a pervasive biome-scale analysis […]

ABSTRACT Podzols are highly sandy soils, in which elements, such as potassium, needed by crops, are easily leached. Studies have indicated that biochar can contribute to increasing cation exchange capacity of the soil, which can improve the retention of bases. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the poultry litter biochar combined or not with increasing doses of KCl, on leaching and soil base content, on the production of green manure biomass, and on the distribution of K in […]

ABSTRACT The term Sum of Bases has different meanings in Soil Science and the Remineralizer Regulations. This issue may cause misunderstandings in communication, particularly between the agricultural community and the mining community, becoming an obstacle to the advancement of the use of this soil amendment. In this scientific note we propose the use of subscript “R” (SBR), standing for Rock, in English, and Rocha, in Brazilian Portuguese, and “S” (SBS) standing for Soil in English and Solo in Brazilian Portuguese. […]

ABSTRACT Bases are chemical species that donate electrons, accept protons, or release hydroxyls (OH–) in aqueous solution. In Soil Science, “base saturation”, “exchangeable bases” or “basic cations” has been widely used to distinguish Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+ from H+ and Al3+ cations. This terminology is confusing since none of these cations are truly a base in chemistry sense. However, in the absence of the proposition of a correct term, the term “base saturation” remains in use nowadays, causing confusion […]

In response to the Letter to the Editor on “Base saturation is an inadequate term for Soil” (), the editors of RBCS, Reinaldo Bertola Cantaritti and José Miguel Reichert, would like to thank for the issues raised and discussion provided by the authors on the terms “sum of bases” and “base saturation” . The theoretical fundamentals presented by the authors to characterize the alkali metals (Na and K) and alkaline earth metals (Ca and Mg), Group 1 and 2 in […]

ABSTRACT Soil aggregates and their stability affect a wide range of soil properties. This study aimed to (a) verify whether biogenic aggregation provides higher macro- and microaggregate stabilization, and (b) evaluate whether biogenic aggregates are associated with higher labile organic carbon and glomalin contents. Three management systems were evaluated (permanent pasture, PP; no-tillage system, NT; and no-tillage + Brachiaria system, NT+B) as well as a reference area (Atlantic Forest biome vegetation, NF). According to their origin or formation pathway, the […]

ABSTRACT Studies on lability of soil phosphorus (P) under integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) are still scarce, especially for deep soil layers (more than 0.20 m depth) and different managements in the crop and livestock phase. Distinct management in these phases may lead to a different distribution of soil P pools according to its lability (labile, moderately labile, less labile and residual) and, consequently, the P availability for plant nutrition. This study aimed to determine the soil P pools, by P […]

ABSTRACT Evaluations of biomass and nutrient contents in teak stands are necessary alternatives for avoiding early cutting to provide supplemental data for the plant module of fertilization recommendation systems. This study aimed to adjust allometric equations to estimate the accumulation of biomass and nutrient contents in teak plantations in the central region of Brazil. Plots in seminal and clonal stands contained 81 trees aged 75 months, that had not received previous fertilization or thinning. Additional clonal stands aged 15, 51 […]

ABSTRACT Soils with low potassium (K) availability require corrective fertilization for grain crops. The recommended rate to increase K availability up to the critical level depends on the soil K buffering capacity (KBC). This study aimed to quantify the KBC and recalculate the rates necessary to reach the K critical level in 23 soils from Southern Brazil. Soil samples were incubated with six K rates, that were thus grouped according to CECpH7.0: below 7.5 cmolc dm-3 (0, 30, 60, 90, […]

ABSTRACT High acidity and low soil P availability in the soils from the Pampa natural grasslands generally limit the forage growth and economic return. Thus, to increase the economic return and avoid environmental degradation and biodiversity loss due to replacement by intensive cropping systems, it is essential to improve the soil P availability. This study aimed to diagnose the nutritional status of the pluri-specific natural grasslands amended with different history of P sources. Additionally, we also try to indicate the […]