Recently, there has been occurring a great increase in poultry production, especially in turkey's meat, motivated by the increase of exports and conquest of new markets. As a consequence, a great amount of organic residues has been generated, providing potential impact on the environment. Turkey litter is the main residue from such activity, and has been used as soil conditioner, intended to improve physical and chemical characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of turkey litter application in aggregate stability of a Typic dystrophic Red Latosol, under pasture of Brachiaria decumbens, located in Uberlândia, Triângulo Mineiro, Minas Gerais State. Turkey litter was applied in the following dosages: 0 (control), 1,200; 2,400 and 4,800 kg ha-1 and 2,400 kg ha-1 + mineral fertilizer (36 kg ha-1 N, 60 kg ha-1 K2O and 60 kg ha-1 of P2O5). The applications were accomplished in January 2004, and the soil was sampled in two different times (60 and 210 days after application) in layers of 0-20 and 20-40 cm for aggregate stability analysis, evaluated through the total percentage of aggregates larger than 2 mm, smaller than 0.25 mm and Geometric Mean Diameter (GMD). There was no effect of turkey litter dosages in soil aggregation. However, independently of the applied dose, there was an increase in the aggregate stability along time, especially in the 0-20 cm layer.
Soil Structure; Soil Aggregation; Organic Residues
