Mechanical intervention and agricultural gypsum to mitigate the vertical gradient of cations under no-tillage system

Abstract

Agricultural gypsum has been suggested to enhance the soil chemical characteristics in depth for favoring the movement of some nutrients into lower soil layers. However, the effectiveness of such practice as a tool for getting a better distribution of some nutrients in the profile of clayey soils and in consolidated no-tillage areas is questionable. This study aimed at evaluating the impact of agricultural gypsum rates and a single mechanical intervention (plowing + harrowing twice) conducted only at the installation of the experiment on the distribution gradient of some nutrients in the soil profile. Doses of 0 tons ha^-1, 2 tons ha^-1, 4 tons ha^-1 and 6 tons ha^-1 of agricultural gypsum were broadcasted in the early stages of development of white oat. Four crops of soybean/maize and oat as a winter cover crop were grown. Soil management with a single plowing and harrowing operation, in areas under long-term no-tillage system, does not minimize the soil fertility gradient. For this soil with clay content above 70 %, the gypsum was inefficient in promoting the vertical mobility of cations at 36 months after its implementation, being the effects limited to the first 0.10 m of depth, differently from that observed for the S-SO₄^2- anion.