Physical properties and particle-size fractions of soil organic matter in crop-livestock integration

• Main Authors: Carolina Tirloni, Antonio Carlos Tadeu Vitorino, Anderson Cristian Bergamin, Luiz Carlos Ferreira de Souza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Ciência do Solo 2012-08-01
• Series: Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo
• Subjects: rotação de culturas; sistema plantio direto; qualidade do solo; carbono do solo; estabilidade de agregados
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-06832012000400024&lng=en&tlng=en

Crop-livestock integration represents an interesting alternative of soil management, especially in regions where the maintenance of cover crops in no-tillage systems is difficult. The objective of this study was to evaluate soil physical and chemical properties, based on the hypothesis that a well-managed crop-livestock integration system improves the soil quality and stabilizes the system. The experiment was set up in a completely randomized design, with five replications. The treatments were arranged in a 6 x 4 factorial design, to assess five crop rotation systems in crop-livestock integration, and native forest as reference of soil undisturbed by agriculture, in four layers (0.0-0.05; 0.05-0.10; 0.10-0.15 and 0.15-0.20 m). The crop rotation systems in crop-livestock integration promoted changes in soil physical and chemical properties and the effects of the different systems were mainly detected in the surface layer. The crops in integrated crop-livestock systems allowed the maintenance of soil carbon at levels equal to those of the native forest, proving the efficiency of these systems in terms of soil conservation. The systems influenced the environmental stability positively; the soil quality indicator mineral-associated organic matter was best related to aggregate stability.