Modeling the effect of terracing on runoff control in a rural catchment in southern Brazil
16/Jun/2025
ABSTRACT Extreme weather events, such as heavy rains and droughts, necessitate the rapid adaptation of production systems to prevent the degradation of natural resources and to maximize production potential. Defining adaptive practices requires an in-depth understanding of the factors that control the formation and propagation of surface runoff and the identification of specific practices tailored to each location. No-till system, coupled with complementary storm runoff management practices, is effective in controlling surface runoff and related processes. However, the planning of […]
Soil organic carbon stock in a peat-wetland ecosystem in the Cerrado biome under different land covers and its role in water storage
01/Apr/2025
ABSTRACT Wetlands provide important ecosystem services, including climate regulation through carbon sequestration and water storage. Identifying and protecting wetlands is a potentially significant opportunity for current global mitigation efforts. Cerrado wetlands commonly contain carbon-rich soils (peat); however, these environments have been neglected due to lack of knowledge on their characteristics and behaviors. Obtaining data in remote regions using a detailed sampling approach to characterize the organic carbon accumulation in these environments is extremely necessary. In this study, soil samples from […]
Cover crops in between-rows of Coffea canephora for reduction of soil erosion
11/Mar/2025
ABSTRACT Soil erosion in tropical environments causes environmental, social and economic damage. Canephora coffee crops are impacted by soil erosion and testing alternatives to mitigate this damage is a current need. This study aimed to evaluate the losses of sediment, organic carbon, nutrients and surface runoff caused by water erosion in between-rows spacing of Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner plants in management with and without cover crops, and the effect of the intensity of rains on sediment loss and […]
Automatic measurement of surface runoff at the plot scale
10/Feb/2025
ABSTRACT Although the hydrological importance of water infiltration into the soil and surface runoff is well known, manual measurement of these processes, especially at the plot and hillslope scales, is laborious and requires a trained team. This study aimed to develop prototypes with the tipping bucket principle for the automatic monitoring of surface runoff at a plot scale (14.5 × 3 m). In total, 18 prototypes were built and installed in an experiment with different soil covers. Aspects of the […]
Coconut residues increase light fraction of organic matter and water retention in semi-arid sandy soil under irrigated cultivation
16/Dec/2024
ABSTRACT Coconut palm cultivation is associated with the generation of a large amount of residues, mainly from coconut shells, and their utilization in agriculture can represent an opportunity in the context of circular economy and climate change. This study aimed to determine the effect of coconut shell deposition on carbon (C) stocks, organic matter quality, and soil water retention in coconut palm cultivation in the Brazilian semi-arid region. The study was conducted in a commercial coconut palm cultivation area in […]
Cropping and soil management systems effects on soil organic matter fractions in diversified agricultural fields in the Cerrado
25/Nov/2024
ABSTRACT Soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics can be significantly influenced by various cultivation practices, particularly under environmental and edaphic conditions that enhance and accelerate the transformations of organic materials such as straw, root biomass, and organic fertilizers. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of different cultivation and soil management systems on SOM fractions in agricultural areas of the Cerrado Goiano region. The research was conducted across three areas with diverse production systems: 1) BV area, including soybean monoculture (SM01), […]
Cover crops influence the physical hydric quality of a tropical sandy soil under no-tillage cotton cropping
25/Nov/2024
ABSTRACT Reduced stability and structural resilience expose sandy soils to physical degradation under intensive production systems. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of different cover crops (CC) under no-tillage system (NTS) cotton cropping, grown either individually or in combination, on the soil physical quality (SPQ) of a sandy loam Oxisol (Latossolo) in southeastern Brazil. To quantify the effects of CC on soil physical quality indicators, an experiment in randomized blocks design was implemented with the treatments: CC1: single cultivation […]
Education of 21st century: A proposal of flipped classroom strategy to teach Soil Biology
25/Nov/2024
ABSTRACT Flipped Classroom (FC) approach has gained widespread acceptance across various education levels, particularly in higher education settings. Flipped Classroom represents a method employed to stimulate student learning, enhance academic performance, and foster student motivation and engagement. This approach involves the utilization of pre-class materials such as recorded lectures and multimedia resources for student review, while class time is dedicated to exercises, projects, or discussions. Numerous studies have documented enhanced learning outcomes among students of mathematics and science through FC […]
Sediment source tracing in a Brazilian subtropical catchment using diffuse reflectance: Effect of spectral ranges, pre-processing techniques, and multivariate model
11/Oct/2024
ABSTRACT Agriculture intensification in Southern Brazil’s subtropical regions combined with the frequent occurrence of erosive rainfall has rendered the area a global water erosion hotspot. In this scenario, understanding and regulating erosion processes at the river catchment scale is critical for mitigating soil and water resource degradation. Traditional methods for tracing sediment sources are expensive and time-consuming and justify the development of alternative approaches. Therefore, in this study, we employed diffuse reflectance spectroscopy analyses in the ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS), near-infrared (NIR), […]
Impact of a forage legume or nitrogen fertilizer application on ammonia volatilization and nitrous oxide emissions in Brachiaria pastures
11/Oct/2024
ABSTRACT The largest proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Agriculture sector of the Brazilian national GHG inventory is derived from the large (>200 million head) herd of cattle. The greatest contribution to these emissions comes from the enteric methane from cattle, but the direct and indirect emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) from cattle excreta and N fertilizer are responsible for approximately 9 % of all national anthropogenic GHG emissions. Ammonia (NH3) can be volatilized from N fertilizer and […]