Chemical composition of soil in different environmental conditions

Abstract

The sustainability or degradation of the environment can be estimated, among others, for the evaluation and monitoring of sensitive soil attributes for the use and management over time. Understanding the changes resulting from management uses in different systems can assist in the knowledge of ecological processes that advocate restoration ecology. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the soil quality based on its chemical attributes in different uses, being five areas in ecological restoration, an area of native vegetation and a sugarcane crop, all locations in a rural property in Rio Brilhante city, MS, in a transition area between the Cerrado-Mata Atlântica Biomes. The chemical attributes evaluated were: organic matter (OM), pH, cation exchange capacity (CTC), sum of bases (SB), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), calcium (V%) and potential acidity (H + Al). The data were submitted to multivariate analysis, among them: the principal component analysis (PCA) and clustering. The PCA indicated, among the studied areas, the areas under ecological restoration 1 (REC1) presented a lower relation with soil chemical attributes (except for the potential acidity in the surface layer) and showed greater similarity with a sugarcane cultivation area. On the other hand, REC3 presented a better soil chemical quality and greater similarity with native vegetation area, thus evidencing that the vegetation cover development and a mechanization absence were important to promote an improvement of soil quality. The data obtained suggest that the new forms of management in restoration areas imply different levels of soil system quality, tending to increase stability and biological integrity, changes that are part of the ecological processes common to preserved ecosystems.

Keywords:
Chemical attributes; Ecological restoration; Native vegetation; Production system