MICROBIOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SOIL UNDER DIFFERENT CROP SYSTEMS AND CERRADO CONDITIONS

Abstract

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of soil use and management on its chemical, physical and microbiological attributes. The research was carried out from the winter (2007) to the summer (2008), in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil, in a Distroferric Red Latossol. Data were analyzed as a complete randomized experimental design, with 5 collected samples that established 5 replications per management system. The management systems were: Area 1: area alloted to reforestation; Area 2: conventional soil tillage; Area 3: no-tillage; Area 4: degraded forage; and Area 5: natural system (native forest). The evaluation of a management system in its first year of implementation was not sufficient to evaluate the impacts on soil physical and microbiological attributes. The substitution of native vegetation by cultivation systems can cause important alterations on soil chemical attributes from the first year of implementation. Microbiological attributes were efficient indicators of alterations in physical attributes according to the soil use and management.

KEY-WORDS: Soil quality; microbial biomass carbon; management practices.