Management of cerrado soils. I. Production of bean, wheat and rice in a dark-red latosol.

Abstract

An experiment has been carried out in a distrophic dark-red latosol (oxisol) of Goianira, GO, Brazil, to study the effect of lime, corrective phosphate fertilization, green manure and micronutrients on the yield of bean, wheat and rice in an intensive agriculture system with three crops per year. In the first three crops the effect of green manure on the yield of rice and the effect of lime on the yield of bean and wheat were determined. The bean yield was also influenced by the green manure. The mixture of micronutrients + S increased the yield of bean in the first crop. All three crops of wheat were influenced by micronutrients + S but the increase in yield was less than 10%. In the fourth and following crops the yield of all treatments was not statistically different. This shows the importance of plant residues incorporation and maintenance fertilization on the growth and yield of bean, wheat and rice.