ABSTRACT Mehlich-1 soil extract is currently used in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) and Santa Catarina (SC) States, in Brazil, to evaluate soil phosphorus available to plants and Mehlich-1 is sensitive to soil buffering capacity. This limitation is overcome partly by soil separation into buffering classes based on soil clay content. However, soil clay content has some technical and operational limitations, such as the underestimation of soil clay levels in soils under no-till. The aim of this study was to […]

ABSTRACT Intensive land use can affect macrofaunal biodiversity, which is a property that can be used as a soil quality indicator. This study evaluated the abundance and diversity of soil macrofauna and its relation to soil chemical and physical properties in five land use systems (LUS) in the eastern region of Santa Catarina. The following LUS were studied: native forest (NF), eucalyptus plantations (EP), perennial pasture (PP), integrated crop-livestock (ICL), and no-tillage cropping (NT). The macrofauna was quantified in 0.25 […]

ABSTRACT Soils with an A horizon formed by human activity, an anthropogenic A horizon, are found in the Amazon Region. Few studies have examined the spatial distribution of the properties of these soils. We mapped the spatial variability of some soil properties in an area of Archaeological Dark Earth (ADE) in the Brazilian Amazon. A sampling grid was defined over an area of 42 × 88 m under cacao cultivation in which sampling points were established at a spacing of […]

ABSTRACT Management of biological nitrogen fixation in common bean still requires improvement. The objective of this study was to verify the compatibility of nitrogen fertilization with biological N2 fixation to increase common bean yield and profitability. Four field experiments were performed in four municipalities of Minas Gerais, Brazil, during the 2009 and 2010 winter crop season. The 2009 crop experiments were set up under a no-till system and the 2010 crop was conducted using conventional tillage. A randomized block experimental […]

ABSTRACT The soil porous space is where processes related to gases and soil solution occur, and provides an adequate guide for agricultural practices. This study aimed to evaluate the integrated effects of cultivation and the application of liquid bovine biofertilizer on the porous network of a Typic Haplocambids (Cambissolo Háplico Ta Eutrófico) cultivated with figs (Ficus carica L.). Four treatments were evaluated (under fig cultivation with the application of 20, 40 and 60 % of biofertilizer through irrigation, a control […]

ABSTRACT Root growth can be limited by physical and chemical conditions of the soil. Compacted and acidic soils, where there is an occurrence of exchangeable Al, constitute barriers to use of the soil by plant roots. The hypothesis of this study was that physical and chemical properties of the inter-row soil of a peach orchard influence the root distribution of different rootstocks. The aim of this study was to describe and register the soil physical and chemical properties and root […]

ABSTRACT There are many methods for determining precompression stress (σp), whose value is affected by the slope of the soil compression curve. This study was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that for a certain compression curve all methods used to determine σp present the same value and accuracy. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy and the relationship among seven of these methods by computational simulation of soil compression curves under nine scenarios. The following methods were […]

ABSTRACT Rheological parameters have been used to study the interaction between particles and the structural strength of soils subjected to mechanical stresses, in which soil composition and water content most strongly affect soil resistance to deformation. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of water tension on rheological parameters of soils with different mineralogical, physical, and chemical composition. Surface and subsurface horizons of four Oxisols, two Ultisols, one Alfisol, and one Vertisol were physically and chemically characterized; their rheological parameters […]

ABSTRACT Traffic of heavy machinery at harvest and log extraction causes structural degradation of the soil, but studies on the effects of forest harvesting on soils with high organic matter content and exchangeable Al are scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of mechanized forest harvesting operations on a Dystric Cambisol (Humic) with high organic matter (more 50 g kg1) content and exchangeable Al (more 6,0 cmolc kg-1), reforested with Pinus taeda L. The evaluated harvesting […]

ABSTRACT Leaf analysis may identify nutrient deficiency or excess in plant tissue. The aim of this study was to determine reference values and generate nutritional diagnosis from the results of leaf analysis of the carrot crop (Daucus carota L.) by the methods of Critical Level, Sufficiency Range, Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System, and Compositional Nutrient Diagnosis. Contents of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn were determined in 210 carrot fields in the 2012 and […]