SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF RESISTANCE TO PENETRATION IN SOIL UNDER SUGARCANE CROPS WITH DIFFERENT HARVEST METHODS

Maira Da Cunha Souza,Pedro Luan Ferreira Da Silva,Josévaldo Ribeiro Silva,Adriana Ferreira Martins,Flavio Pereira De Oliveira

doi:10.1590/1983-21252020v33n220rc

Maira Da Cunha Souza, Pedro Luan Ferreira Da Silva + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1983-21252020v33n220rc

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Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to evaluate the spatial variability of resistance to penetration in soil under sugarcane crops subjected to different harvest methods in the North Coast microregion of the state of Paraiba, Brazil. The study was conducted in a Typic Hapludult under sugarcane crops, at the farms Santa Emília-II and Maria da Luz-I of the company Miriri Food and Bioenergy S/A, in the municipalities of Rio Tinto and Capim, respectively, state of Paraíba, Brazil. Three sugarcane areas with different harvest methods (manual, mechanized, and manual/mechanized) were selected. The sampling was done in plots of 100 × 100 m, using a grid of 20 × 20 m, covering planting rows and interrows; each intersection point of the grid was georeferenced, and the soil mechanic resistance to penetration was evaluated with the aid of an impact penetrometer (IAA/Planalsucar-Stolf) up to the depth of 0-0.6 m. Soil disturbed and undisturbed samples from the 0.0-0.1 and 0.1-0.2 m layers were collected for analyses of soil moisture, texture, clay dispersed in water, flocculation degree. A pure nugget effect was found in the 0.0-0.1 and 0.4-0.5 m soil layers in the rows of the areas with manual/mechanized harvest. The spherical model was found for most conditions evaluated. The results for the areas were similar, with amplitude of 25-49 m, indicating that the harvest management had no effect on the soil resistance to penetration. No compacted areas were found, and the spatial dependency of the resistance to penetration was characterized as moderate to strong.

Highlights

Sugarcane is an important crop for the economy of many countries, and is a source of food and bioenergy
The data of soil resistance to penetration (SRP) were close to a normal distribution (Table 2), since the mean and median values were similar in all sugarcane areas, soil layers, and positions studied
According to Cressie (1991), normality is not required for evaluations of spatial dependency when avoiding elongated tails in distribution curves, which can be found in the present work by the number of coefficients of asymmetry close to zero

Summary

Introduction

Sugarcane is an important crop for the economy of many countries, and is a source of food and bioenergy. According to the Brazilian National Food Supply Company (CONAB), the state of Paraíba is the third largest sugarcane producing state in the last ten years in the Northeast region, after Pernambuco and Alagoas, with aplanted area of 110,300 hectares and a production of 4,856,100 Mg in the 2016/2017 crop season (CONAB, 2017). The sugarcane mechanized harvest system requires the use of load-transfers and harvesters with total weights of 20-30 Mg, whose frequent traffic during several crop cycles and under several soil hydrological conditions results in soil physical changes, mainly in increasing soil compaction, which decreases crop yield (BRAUNACK et al, 2006). The development of sugarcane crops increases the concern on problems of soil compaction resulted from the intense heavy machinery traffic (SILVA; CABEDA, 2006)

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