Relief Position and Soil Properties under Continuous Banana Cropping in Subhumid Climate in Northeast Brazil

Abstract

Sequences of thick and eroded soils in hills surfaces are cultivated with banana since the beginning of the last century in the Northeast of Pernambuco (PE), Brazil. Measurements of soil properties depending on soil slope under intensive agricultural cultivation are limited mostly as the pedogenetic approach. This study aimed to identify the dominant soil types, to evaluate morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties of soil profiles, and link them to the relief position under continuous banana cropping, in the transition Mata-Agreste of PE. Three slope classes and soil profiles were considered: Profile 1 (P1), upper third of the elevation slope; Profile 2 (P2), middle third of the slope; and Profile 3 (P3) lower third. They were opened, described, and soil samples collected from all horizons at a typical slope of the region. Independent of relief position and land use, all soils are deep (>1.50 m) and present the argic horizons (Bt) developed in all steeply sloping surfaces (15-33 %). The Bt horizon presented the highest values of soil bulk density and microporosity. Despite the presence of illite, all the soil profiles showed remarkable degree weathering, are mostly kaolinitic, besides presenting goethite and quartz in the soil clay fraction, and predominance of quartz in the silt and sand fraction. Water-stable aggregates >2 mm were dominant in all the relief positions. Acidity, low cation exchange capacity, and in general, nutrient poverty were observed in the soil profiles, as opposed accumulation of exchangeable cations on the lower third of the slope (P3). However, the soil properties were affected by land use and water erosion. The Ap horizons showed the highest values of pH, exchangeable bases, phosphorus available, and organic carbon due to agricultural practices, while the steepest slope (P2) had the lowest content of clay, phosphorus and mean weight diameter of aggregates, and higher organic carbon content, in the superficial horizon, due to removal and deposition by water erosion. From the upper third to the lower third of the slope, Nitic Acrisol, Haplic Acrisol, and Nitic Lixisol were formed.