Chemical and physical attributes of an Udult soil in agroecological production systems

Abstract

^{The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of agroecological management systems on physical and chemical attributes of an Udult soil. The following areas were selected: conventional tillage (corn/beans); no tillage (eggplant/corn); consortium of passion fruit/Desmodium sp.; fig cultivation; and an agroforestry system (AFS). The undisturbed soil samples were taken from two layers (0–5 and 5–10 cm) and in two periods, the summer of 2005 and the winter of 2006. The soil properties analyzed were: bulk density (Ds), total pore volume, mean weight diameter (MWD) and mean geometric diameter (MGD) of aggregates, pH, Al, Ca+Mg, K, H+Al, P, and total organic carbon (TOC). The highest values of Ds, P and K were observed in the fig area. The system with corn/beans had the lowest MWD and MGD values. The highest values of MWD and MGD were observed in the passion fruit/Desmodium and eggplant/corn systems. Differences in TOC were greater at the 5–10 cm depth. Soil in the AFS had the highest percentage of total porosity. The analysis of main components showed that the area cultivated with fig had the highest soil fertility.}