SOIL STRUCTURAL QUALITY AS A FUNCTION OF MANAGEMENT IN AN INTEGRATED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the structural quality of the soil, as a function of the management, in a SIPA in the municipality of Rio Crespo-RO. The study was carried out at Esperança farm, in September 2017. The following operations were studied: area 1: corn-grain harvest / soybean-safflower (2015/2016); soybean crop / Bracharia ruzizienses / grazing-60 days - 3.87 AU / ha (2015/2016); crop-soybean / safrinha-maize-silage / Bracharia ruzizienses grazing-60 days - 3.39 AU / ha (2016/2017); area 2: harvest-corn-grain / safrinha-soybean (2015/2016); soybean crop / Bracharia ruzizienses / grazing-60 days - 3.39 AU / ha (2015/2016); crop-soybean / safrinha-maize-silage / Bracharia ruzizienses - grazing-60 days - 4.22 AU / ha (2016/2017); area 3: crotalaria / corn-grain harvest / safrinha-soybean (2015/2016); harvest-corn-grain (2015/2016); crop-soybean / safrinha-maize-grain / Bracharia ruzizienses without grazing, area 4: crotalaria / corn-grain harvest / safrinha-soybean (2015/2016); crop-corn-grao / Bracharia ruzizienses / grazing-60 days - 3.20 AU / ha (2015/2016); crop-soybean / safrinha-maize-grain / Bracharia ruzizienses - grazing-60 days - 4.22 AU / ha (2016/2017) and area 5: native forest. The soil quality evaluation was done visually by the method of rapid diagnosis of soil structure, assigning grades to the Soil Structural Quality Index (IQES) from 1 to 6. The IQES of each area were: area 1 - 5 , 67 (very good structural quality); areas 1 and 4 with IQES of 4.12 and 4.05, respectively (good structural quality). Areas 2 and 5 with IQES of 2.77 and 2.54 respectively (poor structural quality). The implantation of SIPAs results in improvement in the structural quality of the soil. The best quality of the soil structure is obtained when no animal grazing is used. In areas with an animal stocking greater than 4.0 AU / ha, constant monitoring of the soil structure quality is necessary, also observing the homogeneous distribution of the animals in the area.KEYWORDS: Conservationist management, Integration-crop-livestock, Soil structure.