PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SOIL IN INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS.

Abstract

The occupation and use of agricultural areas require adopting new technologies based on conservationist bases
such as direct planting, crop rotation, and agriculture-livestock integration. Therefore, the objective is to
evaluate the physical and biological attributes of the soil with different agricultural cultivation systems. The
experiment was carried out in the city of Palmas, state of Tocantins. For physical samples, undisturbed soil
samples were collected and the following analyzes were carried out: total porosity, apparent density, and
hydraulic conductivity according to EMBRAPA (2011). There were two collections to determine biological
attributes, the first one when soybeans were at stage R1 and corn at V10, and the last one before the harvest.
Soil microbial respiration (SMR) was determined by capturing, in a NaOH solution, the CO2 evolved from the
soil using incubation chambers. Soil microbial biomass (SMB) was determined by the Substrate Induced
Respiration (SIR) method. There were no statistical differences between the treatments in the physical attributes of the soil and in the second soil collection. Therefore, it is clear that the different cover crops did
not alter the soil’s physical properties. There were not any statistical differences about microbial respiration
when we compared the general average of treatments and the two collections in the soybean crop. In contrast, for microbial biomass, there is a statistical difference between the treatments in the collections. In the corn crop, when comparing the two soil collections for biological attributes, there was a statistical difference between the general average of the treatments and the microbial respiration. In contrast, for biomass, there were no statistical differences when we compared the general average of the treatments and their samples.