Disponibilidade de potássio afetada por cultivos em solos com longo histórico de adubação

Abstract

In soils containing minerals with potassium in non-exchangeable forms, crops uptake a larger amount of this nutrient than that the chemical method can extract, making more difficult the establishment of availability classes and sufficiency levels for potassium. The aims of this study were: a) investigate crop response with potassic fertilization in an Ultisol; b) estimate the capacity of potassium supply in Ultisol and Oxisol, with a long report of addition of potassic fertilization; and c) verify mineralogical alterations of the clay fraction in these soils submitted to successive crop cultivations. The study was based on two experiments: The first one was installed in 1991 in an Ultisol with addition of 0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha-1, evaluating crop yield and potassium levels in soil using Mehlich-1. The second one consisted in a succession of plant cultivation in two types of soil with long history of potassic fertilization. The first experiment was located in the experimental field of the Federal University of Santa Maria, RS, a typical Ultisol, and the second one, classified as Oxisol, in the experimental field of Embrapa Soja, Londrina-PR. The soil samples were collected in the experiments with less and higher concentration of potassium combined with an addition of 0, 30 and 90 mg kg-1 of potassium for every cultivation. There were 11 cultivations in the Ultisol and 8 in the Oxisol. From every cultivation soil samples were collected and the amount of potassium extracted by Mehlich-1 after the 5° and 11° cultivation in the Oxisol 4° and 8° cultivation in the Oxisol was determined. The samples were submitted at extraction with NaTPB, HNO3 and HF. The mineralogy of the clay fraction of the treatments with less and higher concentration of potassium was characterized. Crops respond to the potassium fertilization when the concentration in soil was lower then 50 mg kg-1. This result shows that the doses to maintain potassium concentration do not need to be larger than the amount exported by crops and that the fertilization of correction is only necessary when exhaustion of potassium occurs. The chemical extractor Mehlich-1 was sensitive to evaluate the availability of potassium in short time, while the chemical extractors NaTPB and HNO3 can estimate satisfactorily the depletion of potassium with successive cultivations. The Ultisol showed a greater ability to supply the plant needs than the Oxisol. The crop cultivation in the Ultisol, without the addition of potassium, has altered the soil mineralogy, as detected by X-ray diffraction. On the other hand, in the Oxisol, after successive cultivations, none mineralogy alteration was perceptible by X-ray diffraction.