Least limiting water range in Spodosol and initial growth of sugarcane under soil bulk densities and salinities

Abstract

The impacts of agricultural mechanization and soil management on sugarcane activity may compromise the growth of plants. This study aimed to evaluate the initial growth of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) at soil densities under two salinity conditions, associated with the least limiting water range (LLWR), and obtain the critical density for the Spodosol. The treatments consisted of the use of five bulk densities (1.40; 1.50; 1.60; 1.70 and 1.80 Mg m-3) and two conditions of soil salinity (ECse = 0.5 and 3.0 dS m-1). Morphological variables and biomass of sugarcane plants were measured and, simultaneously, undisturbed soil samples were collected in the layers of 0.02-0.08 m to determine the water retention curve, soil resistance to penetration and the least limiting water range. In general, it was concluded that sugarcane plants has higher growth between the bulk densities of 1.50 and 1.60 Mg m-3. The salinized soil showed higher LLWR than the non-salinized soil, leading to higher shoot fresh mass at bulk densities between 1.49 and 1.66 Mg m-3. The critical bulk densities observed for the Spodosol were 1.70 Mg m-3 for the non-salinized soil and 1.77 Mg m-3 for the salinized soil.

Spatial Autocorrelation of Physical Attributes of an Oxisol

“…Several studies in the literature have corroborated the positive correlation between FC and PW (Alencar et al, 2009;Bezerra et al, 2019). Some methodologies in the literature can be used to estimate PW from FC, confirming this high positive correlation.…”

Variabilidad espacial de la resistencia a la penetración en un perfil del entresurco de la caña de azúcar

“…En el cultivo de la caña de azúcar, el adecuado desarrollo vegetativo de las plantas está influenciado, entre otros factores, por las labores mecanizadas (Bezerra et al, 2019), y lleva aparejados los bajos niveles de compactación del suelo (Arcoverde et al, 2019). La presencia de capas de suelo compactadas puede significar un serio problema para el apropiado desarrollo de la mayoría de los cultivos (Adamchuk y Molin, 2006) al afectar, por la impedancia mecánica del suelo, su crecimiento radicular (Genro et al, 2004).…”