Spatial Dependence of Physical Attributes and Mechanical Properties of Ultisol in a Sugarcane Field

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of conventional tillage and application of the monoculture of sugar cane on soil health. Variables like density, moisture, texture, consistency limits, and preconsolidation stress were taken as indicators of soil quality. The measurements were made at a 120 × 120 m field cropped with sugar cane under conventional tillage. The objective of this work was to characterize the soil and to study the spatial dependence of the physical and mechanical attributes. Then, undisturbed soil samples were collected to measure bulk density, moisture content and preconsolidation stress and disturbed soil samples for classification of soil texture, and consistency limits. The soil texture indicated that soil can be characterized as sandy clay soil and a sandy clay loam soil, and the consistency limits indicated that the soil presents an inorganic low plasticity clay. The preconsolidation tests tillage in soil moisture content around 19% should be avoided or should be chosen a management of soil with lighter vehicles in this moisture content, to avoid risk of compaction. Using geostatistical techniques mapping was possible to identify areas of greatest conservation soil and greater disturbance of the ground.

Diversity of soil macrofauna under sugarcane monoculture and two different natural vegetation types

“…According to Rossetto et al (2010), sugarcane monoculture leads to biodiversity loss and affects local and regional fauna and flora. Furthermore, soil tillage is traditionally with use of various agricultural machinery mainly made with disc plows, dish harrows and subsoilers (Portilho et al, 2011;Tavares et al, 2015;Surendran et al, 2016) that negatively affect soil aggregation and reduce biological activity (Benito et al, 2008). In addition to modifying soil physico-chemical characteristics, sugarcane cultivation also produces environmental chemical contamination and soil compaction (Iwai et al, 2008;Nurhidayati et al, 2012;Siqueira et al, 2013).…”

Load-Bearing Capacity of an Oxisol under Burned and Mechanized Harvest Sugarcane Crops

“…So, these machines must apply pressures to the soil between 275 and 172 kPa in the friability region (0.19-0.31 kg kg −1 ), respectively, to avoid soil compaction. Reference [15], evaluating preconsolidation pressure in Acrisol under sugarcane cultivation, concluded that the load limit machines apply, aiming to remain within the soil support capacity, 126.28 kPa for a moisture content of 0.10 kg kg −1 or >75.70 kPa for moisture of 0.19 kg kg −1 .…”

“…This indicates that specific management regions of σ p may be monitored by soil water content and σ p mapping enables the identification of management limits. Reference [15] also found spatial variability structure in sugarcane soil and highlighted that preconsolidation stress maps may indicate areas that support heavier equipment and areas that can tolerate only lighter vehicles before further compaction occurs. Soil compaction susceptibility becomes critical under excess water in the soil, reducing its load-bearing capacity [7,10,15,20].…”

“…On the other hand, the preconsolidation pressure can be employed to measure soil structural sustainability, estimate the history of the stress on the soil, and assess its loadbearing capacity [5,10,15,16]. Lower loads than the preconsolidation pressure produces elastic or recoverable deformations, while higher pressures generate plastic or nonrecoverable deformations and reflect their susceptibility to compaction [17].…”