1. Soil physical attributes and organic matter accumulation under no-tillage systems in the Cerrado
- Author
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Torres, J.L.R., Mazetto, J.C. Junior, Silva, J. Junior, Vieira, D.M.S., Souza, Z.M., Assis, R.L., and Lemes, E.M.
- Subjects
Soil carbon ,Soil structure ,Soil density ,Soil management (Agronomy) ,Biomes ,No-tillage ,Soil mechanics ,Soil biology ,Porosity ,Agricultural industry ,Earth sciences - Abstract
Soil management has a major effect on soil physical characteristics, and consequently on soil organic matter (SOM) content, which are important for the success of crop production. The aim of this study was to evaluate the soil physical attributes and the accumulation of SOM in no-tillage systems (NTS) with different periods of implantation in a conventional tillage area and to compare them with native forest (NF) in the Cerrado biome. The experiment was planned in a 3 X 4 factorial scheme, consisting of three soil treatments (NTS for 17 years (NTS 17), NTS for 5 years (NTS5) and NF) and four soil depths (0-0.1, 0.1-0.2, 0.2-0.3 and 0.3-0.4 m), with a completely randomised design and four replicates. At deep soil layers (0.2-0.4 m) the NTS 17 area had a greater soil density than the NTS5 and NF areas, and greater SOM compared with the NTS5 area. Soil macroporosity in the NTS5 area was below 10% at all soil depths evaluated. The NF area had the greatest total organic carbon content (1.39 dag [kg.sup.-1]), stock of carbon (16.63 Mg [ha.sup.-1]), amount of soil organic matter (28.66 Mg [ha.sup.-1]) and equivalent carbon credits (60.96 Mg [ha.sup.-1]). Carbon stocks were similar in the NTS areas in all soil depths evaluated. The results indicate that conventional tillage areas can be successfully recovered under the Cerrado edaphoclimatic conditions with the implantation of an NTS. Additional keywords: carbon sequestration, degraded pasture, soil physics, soil porosity, tillage. Received 25 February 2019, accepted 2 May 2019, published online 13 August 2019, Introduction The Cerrado biome (savanna-like biome) is one of the greatest agricultural frontiers in the world and covers ~24% of the Brazilian territory, corresponding to 203 Mha (Instituto Brasileiro de [...]
- Published
- 2019
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