Soil aggregation and associated organic matter under management systems in sandy-textured soils, subtropical region of Brazil.

Increasing the diversity of plant species in agricultural production areas favors the maintenance or improvement of soil quality, particularly for soils with a sandy texture. This beneficial effect is related to the formation of aggregates of different origins. This study aimed to (i) verify whether soil use and management affect the proportion of biogenic (Bio) and physicogenic (Phy) aggregates and (ii) verify whether biogenic aggregation is more likely to lead to soil improvement than physicogenic aggregation.

Physical fractions of organic matter and mineralizable soil carbon as quality indicators in areas under different forms of use in the Cerrado-Pantanal Ecotone.

Understanding soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics is essential to employ management that contribute to the improvement of soil quality (SQ). The aim of this study was to characterize the SOM and evaluate the emission of mineralizable C (C-CO) in different management systems. The soil was collected in five managed areas: exposed soil (ES), conventional tillage system (CTS), no-tillage system (NTS), permanent pasture (PP) and sugarcane (SC), in addition to a forest area (NF), in the layers of 0-5, 5-10, and 10-20 cm.