Physical Attributes of an Ultisol Under Different Uses in the North of Espírito Santo

Abstract

The evaluation of the physical attributes of the soil is of fundamental importance for the understanding of the impacts caused by the different uses in the agricultural systems. In this sense, the objective of this work was to evaluate the changes in physical attributes of the soil in an area with different uses located in the north of Espírito Santo. The experiment followed a randomized block design (DBC), in a 4 × 2 factorial scheme, represented by 4 areas (coffee, fruit, pasture and native forest) and 2 depth classes (0-10 and 10-20 cm), resulting in a total of 8 treatments with 5 replications. The physical attributes evaluated were: texture, Ds (soil density); Dp (particle density); Ma (macroporosity); Mi (microporosity) and Pt (total porosity). The data obtained were submitted to analysis of variance and the comparison of means was performed using the Tukey test at 5%, using the statistical program R© 4.2. Then, the physical attributes data were grouped into a similarity dendrogram, using the Euclidean distance method. The area with native forest presented the best physical attributes of the soil, followed by: coffee, fruit and pasture, not differing in depth. As for the analysis by grouping, native forest was similar to coffee growing and fruitful showed the greatest dissimilarity between land uses, especially in relation to forest.