O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o crescimento e qualidade de mudas de canafístula (Peltophorum dubium (Spreng.) Taub.) em resposta à aplicação de diferentes doses e formulações do fertilizante de liberação lenta (FLL) Osmocote®. O trabalho foi conduzido no Viveiro de Produção de Mudas Florestais do Instituto Federal do Norte de Minas Gerais (Campus Salinas). Adotou-se o delineamento em blocos casualizados, com três repetições, no esquema fatorial 2 x 5, sendo estudado o efeito de duas formulações de Osmocote® (15-09-12 com liberação de 5 à 6 meses; e 19-06-10 com liberação de 3 à 4 meses) e cinco dosagens dos mesmos (0; 2,5; 5,0; 7,5 e 10,0 g dm-3). Foram avaliados: altura, diâmetro do coleto, massa seca parte aérea, raiz e total, além das relações altura/diâmetro do coleto, altura/massa seca parte aérea, massa seca parte aérea/massa seca raiz e o índice de qualidade de Dickson. As mudas de canafístula responderam positivamente ao uso do FLL Osmocote®, apresentando melhores resultados de crescimento e padrão de qualidade sob doses entre 4,5 a 8,2 g dm-3. A formulação com tempo de liberação de 3 à 4 meses foi capaz de proporcionar a produção de mudas Peltophorum dubium com padrão superior de desenvolvimento.

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Forest management can lead to numerous changes of different magnitudes in the composition and diversity of soil organisms, according to the level of interference with the habitat. Within this context, this study aimed to test the influence of different types of forest management on the edaphic macrofauna community in a region of arboreal Caatinga. The study was carried out in Contendas do Sincorá National Forest, Contendas do Sincorá - Bahia. The experimental area consisted of three types of management (clear cutting, selective cutting by diameter at breast height and selective cutting by species), and a condition of unmanaged Caatinga, which was used as control. The macrofauna was sampled twice a year (March and November) using the soil monolith method. Densities, total number of individuals, total richness, average richness, and Shannon and Pielou rates were estimated. The soil macrofauna was shown to be sensitive to different forest management practices, which indicates that selective cutting is a more conservative system to manage the Caatinga. Among these, selective cutting by species proved to be less impacting on the soil macrofauna, providing more expressive diversity and abundance indexes, and the occurrence of more demanding organisms in microclimate conditions, characteristic of preserved areas. The predominant groups of edaphic fauna, both in the unmanaged as in managed Caatinga, were Isoptera, Formicidae, Chilopoda, and Coleoptera Larvae.

Reducing soil degradation and its impacts on the environment have been one of the main challenges of the 21 st century, exacerbated by a direct link between increases in the human population and soil degradation that raises current and future food security concerns. Despite this, experiences worldwide reveal that degraded land restoration projects have either achieved little success or failed. Thus, understanding the underlying causes and devising appropriate restoration mechanisms is crucial. Soil amelioration using beneficial microorganisms, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), is essential and pragmatic. Glomalin, a type of glycoprotein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the phylum Glomeromycota, contributes to the mitigation of soil degradation. Moreover, AMF and glomalin are highly correlated with other soil physico-chemical parameters and are sensitive to changes in the environment. As a result of this, they have been recommended for monitoring the recovery of degraded soil or stages of soil degradation. In this review, we discuss the role of AMF and glomalin in the restoration of degraded soils, including improvements to the soil structure and soil organic matter (SOM), microbial activity, reduction of fertility loss, bioremediation, and mitigation of the effects of drought and saline stress. We highlight the research gaps and discuss the prospects. This knowledge will improve our understanding of the ecological conduct of glomalin and AMF, stimulate future research, and be useful to sustainable restoration of degraded lands. Furthermore, we discussed the challenges and obstacles in the legislation and future perspectives on the production of inoculants based on AMF in Brazil.

Agroforestry systems have been promoted as a solution to address trade-offs between environmental conservation efforts and the need for increased agricultural productivity on smallholder farms in Brazil. However, the impact of land use change from degraded pasture to agroforestry on soil properties remains unclear. The objectives of this research were to: (1) assess soil chemical, physical and biological properties across distinct land uses (degraded pasture, agroforestry and secondary forest); and (2) understand relationships between litter quality, soil organic matter (SOM) and key soil quality parameters in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. Soils, macroinvertebrates and litter were collected in April and September of 2018 under five land uses, including: three types of agroforestry systems, a degraded pasture and a secondary forest in Sapucaia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our results showed that soil properties clearly separated the three agroforestry systems plots (AS1, AS2, AS3) from the forest and pasture plots. Moreover, litter quality and SOM likely influence multiple biological and physiochemical soil properties under agroforestry systems and secondary forest. Our findings suggest that agroforestry systems can help support soil biological, chemical and physical properties and that the litter quality may be an important driver of their effects and potential contributions to soil restoration in the region.

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This study assessed the effect of cover crop biomass on the epigeal fauna of an organic eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) cropping system. A randomized block design was used, with four cover crop treatments: brachiaria, crotalaria, millet, and cocktail (brachiaria, crotalaria and millet). The epigeal faunal indices were determined at each plot. The epigeal fauna of a secondary forest site was also assessed for comparison. Epigeal individuals were collected using pitfall traps at two sampling periods (110 and 180 days after mowing cover crops). Soil samples were collected for determination of physical and chemic properties. 2032 individuals were captured in the first sampling and 3806 individuals in the second. The highest values of wealth in the first collection were observed in the millet and cocktail areas. Cluster analysis showed similarity of epigeal faunal groups between millet and brachiaria plots at the first sampling and between cocktail and crotalaria sites at the second sampling. Co-inertia analysis showed a significant covariance between epigeal fauna at the second sampling and soil properties. The cover crops management had a beneficial influence on the activity, wealth and ecological indexes, in both sampling periods. The positive association observed between epigeal faunal groups and soil physical and chemical properties demonstrates the efficiency of cover crops in improving soil quality in organic cropping systems.

Carbon binding capacity varies between forest plantations, mainly in terms of species and climate and soil conditions. The objective of this study was to estimate the amount of organic carbon stored in aerial tree biomass in the litter and soil of a homogeneous planting of Pterogyne nitens Tul. located in the Southwest Bahia region of Brazil. The woody biomass was obtained by destructive method. Litter collection was carried out using a wooden template (0.25 m 2 ). Soil samples were collected at four depths (0-5, 5-10, 10-20 and 20-40 cm). The carbon stored in all studied compartments totaled 47.1 Mg ha -1 with a greater contribution from the ground (31.4 t ha -1 ). The accumulated litter was the lowest carbon compartment, storing about 1.4% of the total. Among the different fractions of the biomass, the stem is the largest carbon reservoir, representing about 46% of fixed C biomass.