Capacidade de preparos de solo reduzirem limitações físicas naturais de áreas de várzea para o cultivo de soja

Abstract

The soybean crop development in lowland soils in recent years has increased. The aim of this study was to investigate the capacity of the soil management to modify the physical environment of the soil, and analyze the role of groundwater and capillary fringe in regulating the expression of physical environment improved by soil management, both in regard to oxygen deficiency and water deficit. For this, the soybean crop was grown in an experiment with no-tillage, ridge with tillage, chiseling, and chiseling with ridge, in a Alfisol. To evaluate the modification caused by the preparations, bulk density, total porosity, macro and micro porosity, air permeability and saturated hydraulic conductivity were measured. Also, the level of the water table and the volumetric water content in the soil were monitored, from which rates of water stress and oxygen deficiency were calculated. Plant performance was evaluated by measuring population of plants, dry matter of shoot and grain yield. When the groundwater approaching the soil surface, the improvements obtained with the chiseling for the reduction of oxygen deficiency were removed virtually, such as increased porosity and air permeability, because the water content was close to that of saturation. The levels of stress indicated that chiseling reduced oxygen deficiency, although it caused little water deficit. The chiseling also provided the highest yield (4610 kg ha-1), which was not surpassed by the ridge and chiseling combination (4001 kg ha-1). The lower yields were observed in no tillage (2842 kg ha-1) and no tillage with ridge (3565 kg ha-1), in which oxygen deficiency was more severe. The results of this study show that chiseling has great potential to reduce stress by oxygen deficiency in lowland soils, however, the water table controls the expression of the improvements provided by chiseling.