Microbiological and structural quality of Oxisol under pasture renewal systems

Abstract

The central Brazilian Savanna biome, known as Cerrado, has a vast area of pastures affected by some degree of degradation, where one of the main challenges is incorporating these areas into a crop production system. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of pasture renewal systems on the microbiological and structural quality of a medium-texture Oxisol. A randomized blocks design was adopted, with four replications and eight pasture renewal systems: 1) soybean/off-season maize/soybean; 2) soybean/maize-grass intercropping/soybean; 3) grass for 10 months and then one soybean crop; 4) grass + rattlepod for 10 months and then one soybean crop; 5) grass for 13 months and then one soybean crop; 6) grass + rattlepod for 13 months and then one soybean crop; 7) one soybean crop; 8) original pasture (control). The microbiological quality was assessed based on soil microbial biomass carbon, soil microbial activity, microbial metabolic quotient - qCO2 and activity of the β-glucosidase enzyme; and the structural quality based on the soil structural quality index. The implementation of pasture renewal systems with grass as a single crop (systems 3 and 5) or intercropped with rattlepod (systems 4 and 6) improves the soil microbiological and structural quality. The pasture renewal system beginning with soybean/off-season maize succession (system 1) is not indicated for the medium-texture soil evaluated in this study.