Abstract
ABSTRACT Although cassava is an undemanding crop in terms of soil chemical fertility, the scarcity of nutrients affects crop productivity, and it is common to cultivate it in soils with low natural fertility, as occurs in Coastal Tablelands. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the physical and chemical attributes of soils cultivated with cassava under different managements. The study was carried out in the municipality of São Felipe, located in the landscape unit of Coastal Tablelands, Bahia state, Brazil. Fifteen properties were selected to evaluate the characteristics of soils cultivated with cassava under different types of management. Soil sampling was carried out during the months of October and November 2018, a dry period in the region. The medium-textured soil was predominant in the different areas of management of cassava cultivation. Most areas showed pH below the recommended range for cassava (5.5 to 6.5), base saturation below 50% and low phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium contents, according to the crop’s nutritional needs. The first two principal components explained 84.65% of the total variance. Thus, it was possible to verify that the diversity of management of cassava production areas results in high or very high variability of soil chemical attributes. The attributes pH, P, Al, H + Al, V, CEC and OM are the most representative in the distinction of soils of the cassava cultivation areas evaluated.
Highlights
Material and Methods cassava is an undemanding crop in terms of soil chemical fertility, the shortage of nutrients affects crop productivity, as root yields are directly related to the availability of nutrients in the soil (Borges et al, 2020).According to Souza et al (2009), the planting of cassava should be carried out, preferably, in deep soils of medium texture, in order to promote a good root development, with soil pH within the range from 5.5 to 6.5 and base saturation greater than 50%
The cultivation of cassava is widespread in the Coastal Tablelands, a landscape unit where there is predominance of Oxisols and Ultisols, both with low natural fertility and natural cohesion, but Oxisols have problems with phosphorus fixation, while Ultisols have high susceptibility to erosion (Marques et al, 2014)
Only a small portion of producers apply fertilizers to their cassava crops and correct soil acidity, but their use is recommended to increment soil fertility (Rós et al, 2013; 2020). These precautions are related to the fact that the cassava crop removes many nutrients from the soil and provides little recycling of these, in addition to low initial growth, which exposes the soil to erosion; these facts are aggravated when cassava is cultivated in soils with low nutrient availability (Fialho et al, 2017)
Summary
Cassava is an undemanding crop in terms of soil chemical fertility, the shortage of nutrients affects crop productivity, as root yields are directly related to the availability of nutrients in the soil (Borges et al, 2020). Only a small portion of producers apply fertilizers to their cassava crops and correct soil acidity, but their use is recommended to increment soil fertility (Rós et al, 2013; 2020) These precautions are related to the fact that the cassava crop removes many nutrients from the soil and provides little recycling of these, in addition to low initial growth, which exposes the soil to erosion; these facts are aggravated when cassava is cultivated in soils with low nutrient availability (Fialho et al, 2017). In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the physical and chemical attributes of soils cultivated with cassava under different managements. All analyses were performed in R software version 3.5.2 through the Hmisc (Pearson’s Correlation analysis), FactoMineR (cluster analysis) and factoextra (PCA) packages
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