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Organic acids present in organic matter and, or, exudates by microorganisms and plants can increase the liberation of potassium present in minerals. The objective of this study was to characterize the residue from ornamental rocks and evaluate the release of K from these residues after the application of organic acids. The experiment was conducted under laboratory conditions and followed a 2 × 3 × 5 factorial design with three replicates. The studied factors were: two organic acids (citric acid and malic acid), three ornamental rock residues (R1, R2 and R3) and five organic acid rates (0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mmol L -1 ). After agitation, K concentrations were determined in the equilibrium solution. Successive extractions were performed (1, 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 days after the start of the experiment). The organic acids used (citric and malic) promoted the release of up to 4.86 and 4.34 % of the total K contained in the residue, respectively, reinforcing the role of organic acids in the weathering of minerals and in providing K to the soil. The K quantities were, on average, 6.1 % higher when extracted with citric acid compared to malic acid.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the organic carbon (OC) distribution and inorganic phosphorus (P) fractions on different soil aggregates classes under forestry fragment of Atlantic Forest, pasture and agroforestry managed for a long period. Soil samples were collected at depths of 0.00-0.10, 0.10-0.20 and 0.20-0.60 m, and the aggregate stability analysis was performed at each depth. The OC and the inorganic P fractions (P bic readily available, NaHCO 3 0.5 mol L -1 ; P Na1 moderately available, NaOH 0.1 mol L -1 ; and P Na2 restricted availability, NaOH 0.5 mol L -1 ) were determined in the respective classes of soil aggregates 4-2, 2-1, 1-0.5, 0.5-0.25 mm.Soil under forestry fragment showed higher OC contents and regardless the land use, highest values of inorganic P were found in the aggregates > 1 mm. Forestry showed highest levels of P bic , while agroforestry showed the highest levels of P Na1 , and pasture had highest values of P Na2 .

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Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry has been successfully used for soil attribute prediction. However, recent studies have shown that accurate predictions may vary according to soil type and environmental conditions, motivating investigations in different biomes. Hence, this work attempted to accurately predict soil pH, sum of bases (SB), cation exchange capacity (CEC) at pH 7.0 and base saturation (BS) using pXRF-obtained data with high variability and robust prediction models in the Brazilian Coastal Plains biome. A total of 285 soil samples were collected to generate prediction models for A (n = 123), B (n = 162) and A+B (n = 285) horizons through stepwise multiple linear regression, support vector machine with linear kernel (SVM) and random forest. Data were divided into calibration (75%) and validation (25%) sets. Accuracy of the predictions was assessed by coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and residual prediction deviation (RPD). The A+B horizons dataset had optimal performance, especially for SB predictions using SVM, achieving R2 = 0.82, RMSE = 1.02 cmolc dm–3, MAE = 1.17 cmolc dm–3 and RPD = 2.33. The most important predictor variable was Ca. Predictions using pXRF data were accurate especially for SB. Limitations of the predictions caused by soil classes and environmental conditions should be further investigated in other regions.

An obligate parasite bacterium of the root-knot nematode, Pasteuria penetrans strain P10, isolated from Meloidogyne incognita females on banana roots in Imperatriz Maranhão State, Brazil, was evaluated in glasshouse conditions, using two doses of a dry root bionematicide (10 7 endospores (5.0 g/seedling) and 10 6 endospores (0.5 g/seedling)) on seedlings of cv. Mundo Novo coffee. The soil in which coffee seedlings were raised was inoculated previously with these two doses of P. penetrans and after 2 months the plants were transferred to soils of different textures: clay-sandy soil (38% clay, 2% silt and 60% sand) and sandy soil (17% clay, 0% silt and 83% sand). When the coffee plants were 30 cm high, they were inoculated with 20 000 eggs/plant of M. incognita race 1. The coffee plants were examined 8, 16 and 24 months after nematode plant infestation. The effectiveness of the biological control was determined by the reduction of nematode reproduction factor, which ranged from 62 to 67% in clay-sandy soil and 80 to 85% in sandy soil. The mechanism of suppression caused by the bacterium was evaluated by the percentage of infected second-stage juveniles (J2), number of endospores attached/J2 and number of infected females. The high levels of suppression were related to time, increasing from 8 to 24 months, and to the percentage of sand in the soil.