Calcareous soils in the Northeastern of Brazil: Alterations of attributes from different land use history

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThe intensive machinery traffic is an important feature of industrial agroecosystems. This traffic when performed under inappropriate moisture conditions can accelerate a series of soil physical properties exchanges, causing deterioration of several soil quality indicators. Intensive agricultural activity is advancing rapidly in western Sergipe State and northeastern Bahia State (Brazilian semi-arid regions), mainly on soils developed from limestone substrata. This study characterized the soils and investigated the effect of increasing periods of corn crops and other land use types on soil attributes of calcareous soils from Western Sergipe State, with emphasis on physical attributes, particulate organic matter, and total organic C. Five combinations with five replicates of land use were selected: dry forest (DF); corn crop (first, fourth and tenth year -C1, C4 and C10) after forest removal; and intensive pasture (IP). The study areas were dominated by soils with vertic properties. Almost all the chemical and physical attributes showed a lesser quality in IP sites compared with the other treatments. The differences among the DF sites and corn crop sites were smaller. When compared the land use time of corn crop treatments (with DF as zero time), tenuously, some attributes formed two groups, where DF and C1 treatments were separated from C4 and C10 treatments. Regarding the comparison of all treatments, the non-metric multidimensional scaling technique explained 94% of the variability (in two axis) of the 19 attributes analyzed, being the major part represented by axis 1 (79%). The IP sites had the greatest soil physical degradation index among all groups. The C1 sites had significant contrast compared with the DF sites. The C4 sites showed a loss of quality in many soil physical properties compared with C1 sites. There were no differences between the C4 and C10 sites. This shows that in order to achieve a near steady state a greater number of cultivation years is required.

Effects of land use, tillage management, and crop diversification on soil physical quality in Cerrado agricultural systems

“…The VESS assessment and the soil physical parameters clearly showed that the agricultural land use declines soil physical quality compared with native Cerrado vegetation (Figures 3,5,6,and 7). This result complies with previous evidences showing that the LUC from native vegetation to agricultural systems increases BD and PR while decreasing the MaP and HC Gomes et al, 2016;Hunke et al, 2015;Rojas et al, 2016;Santos et al, 2021). In a review of 80 studies performed from 1977 to 2012, Hunke et al (2015) found that croplands had significantly higher BD than the native Cerrado vegetation.…”

Multivariate approach of soil attributes on the characterization of land use in the southern Brazilian Amazon

“…6). According to Gomes et al (2016), who studied changes in the physical-chemical attributes of chalky soils in northeastern Brazil, the continuous use of soil in agricultural activities makes it reach a steady state that is characterized by losses in physical quality, which may be intensified in subsequent years of cultivation. Therefore, these results ( Fig.…”

“…The loss of native vegetation coverage, land-use change (LUC), and the inappropriate use of soil have led to the degradation of natural resources and reduction of soil quality related to its physical, chemical and biological attributes (Rojas et al, 2016). The economic and social pressure for food production, as well as the inappropriate and unplanned exploitation of natural resources, have caused degradation in without anthropic action makes it possible to quantify the magnitude of the changes that have occurred due to different models of exploitation (Brookes, 1995;Gomes et al, 2016). According to Reicher et al (2009), based on the sensitivity of these attributes, it is possible to establish the occurrence of degradation or improvement of soil quality compared to soil in a non-anthropized environment.…”

Microbial dynamics associated with the decomposition of coconut and maize residues in a microcosm experiment with tropical soils under two nitrogen fertilization levels

“…In addition, several environmental hazards are caused by soil degradation in the tropics, for example, increased CO 2 emissions, eutrophication of rivers and lakes, sedimentation of reservoirs, impacts in hydrological regimes, loss of (Qin et al 2015). These benefits are of particular importance to the tropics due to the low organic carbon (C) content and high predisposition to physical structure damage of tropical soils (Barreto et al 2012;Castro et al 2015;Gomes et al 2016).…”

“…Residues added as mulch also protect soil from physical damage due to rainfall, besides improving water infiltration and storage (Qin et al 2015). These benefits are of particular importance to the tropics due to the low organic carbon (C) content and high predisposition to physical structure damage of tropical soils (Barreto et al 2012;Castro et al 2015;Gomes et al 2016).…”