Qualidade física de um argissolo acinzentado do município de Pacajus (CE) após a aplicação de resíduo de caju

Abstract

Since man discovered agriculture as a way to get food, nature has been modified. Changes were caused in the ecosystem and with them came the losses in soil quality. Therefore, it was presumed the need to implement systems that imply on the conservation of soil and thus the plant residues that were burned or removed from the agricultural area started to be left on the soil surface in order to protect the soil and to promote improvements in their quality. In this context, the application of plant residues on the soil, such as cashew residues, can bring benefits to physical quality of the soil. Given this, the present research objective was to evaluate the effect of cashew residue on soil physical quality measured through indicators. Samples were collected from both undisturbed not preserved soil. The analyzes were determined in the field (infiltration and hydraulic conductivity) and in the laboratory (index S and soil air permeability). The experimental design was randomized blocks, consisting of 5 treatments (five application rates: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, which correspond, respectively, to: control, 16, 32, 48, 64 t ha-1 organic waste) and four blocks. For statistical analysis, it was verified the normality of data from the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and, then, followed by the analysis of variance and Tukey test at 5% probability. The values for saturated hydraulic conductivity (K0) was found to be in the range varying from high to very high, with reducing the possibility of superficial runoff. The residue did not affect the soil water content, even at high rate applications. The S index showed values above those shown in the literature (> 0.035), suggesting a good indicator of the soil quality under study. The soil air permeability (Kar) also had values above that considered critical (> 1μm2), being, therefore, limiting to plant growth. It can be argued that the high results K0, S and Kar were closely related to macroporosity, inherent characteristic of the soil used in this research. Increasing application rates of cashew residues did not significantly influence the above results.