Hydro-physical and biological functioning of a soil cultivated with sugarcane under different systems of soil preparation and management

Abstract

Sugarcane, the second commodity of Brazilian agribusiness, is largely cultivated under conventional tillage and this has been cause for concern since this system of soil preparation and management promotes degradation of soil quality. Therefore, the general objective of this research is to evaluate the hydro-physical and biological functioning of a soil cultivated with sugarcane under different systems of preparation and management of the soil with different limestone doses, to contribute with management strategies more sustainable. For this, an area of the experimental station of the Agronomic Institute of Campinas, in Ribeirão Preto - SP, will be studied. In this area, there is an experiment with sugarcane/soybean, installed since 1998, consisting of two soil preparation and management systems (conventional and no-tillage) and four limestone doses (0, 2, 4 and 6 Mg ha-1) in 4 replications, totaling 32 plots, where they will be realized the characterization of the soil, the evaluation of the soil structure, and collections of soil and straw for chemical, physical, hydro-physical, biological (macrofauna), micromorphological and micromorphometric analyzes, and for soil quality assessment. It is based on the hypothesis that the cultivation of sugarcane under no-tillage system improves the hydro-physical and biological functioning of the soil and that the cultivation of sugarcane under no-tillage with different doses of limestone influences the improvement of the physical, chemical and biological quality of the soil. It is hoped that this work will serve as a basis for other studies and contribute to a better planning of the management and improvement of the quality of the soil cultivated with sugarcane. (AU)