Soil physical properties of a Dystrofic Red Latosol (Oxisol) influenced by tillage systems for cassava production

Abstract

The northwest area of the State of Parana presents, in most of its extension, loamy to sandy texture soils that, depending on the system of management and tillage of the soil and crops, they can be predisposed to high levels of physical degradation of the soil. With the objective of characterizing the effect of cultivation systems for the cassava crop (Euphorbiaceae) in a Dystrophic Red Latossol (Oxisol), experiments were installed in the experimental area of the Pinduca Ltda Company, Araruna - PR. Three systems of cultivation were adopted: no-tillage of the cassava on the residues of the oats crop following the cultivation of annual crops without disturbing the soil, cultivation areas under minimum tillage with subsoiling, and conventional tillage with moldboard plow and disc harrowing. The physical properties evaluated were the size distribution of the aggregates after dry sieving, the soil resistance to root penetration, the bulk density and the porosity of the soil. The results indicated that the adoption of the different cultivation systems resulted in important alterations in most of the physical properties of the evaluated soil. The mean weight and geometric diameter of the aggregates differed among the systems of cultivation. The no-tillage cultivation system promoted increases in the bulk density of the soil and reduction in the macroporosity in comparison to the plowed systems of soil cultivation. In the absence of disturbing the soil, the soil resistance to penetration was restrictive to the growth of the plants in comparison to the systems of minimum and conventional cultivation of the soil