Organic matter and physical attributes of Latosols 30 months after uses in the sugarcane fallow-period

Abstract

The objective this work was to evaluate the organic matter content and the physical attributes of two Red Latosols 30 months after use in the sugarcane fallow-period. The long-term experiment was conducted on two Red Latosols. The design was in blocks, with four treatments and five replications. The treatments were soybean/millet/soybean; soybean/sunn hemp/soybean; soybean/fallow/soybean and soybean. At 30 months after the fallow-period the layers of 0.00-0.10 and 0.10-0.20 m were sampled for the determination of the weighted average diameter of the aggregates; and the layers 0.00-0.10; 0.10-0.20; 0.20-0.40 and 0.40-0.60 m for the determination of organic matter, aggregate stability index, soil density, porosity and resistance to penetration. The uses promoted an increase in organic matter and porosity, a reduction in the aggregation of soils evaluated 30 months after the fallow-period of the cane in relation to that determined after the fallow-period. At 30 months, the resistance to penetration of acric Red Latosol was different among the uses, and soybean/fallow/soybean yielded the lowest value in relation to the soybean and soybean/sunn hemp/soybean use. Uses had no effect on attributes assessed after 30 months.