Selecting soil quality indicators for different soil management systems in the Brazilian Cerrado

Diane Cristina Stefanoski,Robélio Leandro Marchão,Glenio Guimarães Santos,Cícero Célio De Figueiredo

doi:10.1590/s0100-204x2016000900064

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this work was to assess soil quality indicators obtained with different datasets to compare soil management systems in the Brazilian Cerrado. Three criteria were used to select soil physical, chemical, and biological indicators: the full set of indicators obtained, with 36 parameters, for which all the physical, chemical, and biological soil properties were determined; a subset of indicators selected by principal component analysis (20 parameters); and a subset of indicators with some frequency of use in the literature (16 parameters). These indicators were obtained from the following management systems: no-tillage, conventional tillage, and native cerrado vegetation. Soil samples were collected at 0.0-0.1-m soil depth, and soil quality indicators were subjected to analysis of variance and their means were compared. The incorporation of soil native cerrado into agriculture decreased soil quality. The most commonly used indicators in the scientific literature are sensitive enough to detect differences in soil quality according to land use. Therefore, the selection of a minimum set of representative data can be more useful than a complex set of properties to compare management systems as to their soil quality.

Highlights

Soil chemical, physical, and biological attributes (Karlen et al, 2001) have been used historically as proxies to soil quality (Andrews et al, 2002), which is a concept related to intrinsic characteristics of the soil, to its interactions with the ecosystem, and to the type of land use or management
Soil samples were collected from each selected area in March 2012, in two different management systems: no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT); and, in each farm, an adjacent plot of native cerrado (NC) was used as reference
The decline of soil quality observed in this region due to agricultural management systems are mainly related to these factors

Summary

Introduction

Physical, and biological attributes (Karlen et al, 2001) have been used historically as proxies to soil quality (Andrews et al, 2002), which is a concept related to intrinsic characteristics of the soil, to its interactions with the ecosystem, and to the type of land use or management. This implies some degree of subjectivity as to individual perceptions of what can be deemed “good quality” (Velasquez et al, 2007; Blanco & Lal, 2008). The research focus is on selecting, weighting, and interpreting a consensual set of indicators to assess soil quality (Lopes et al, 2013)

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion