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

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.