Qualidade de latossolos na Chapada do Araripe sob diferentes coberturas vegetais

Abstract

It is essential to know the quality of the soil, through its attributes, to evaluate the impacts of different vegetation cover and adequately plan their use, contributing to soil recovery and conservation, which are important for the improvement of the quality of life of families in the region of Araripe that depend directly and indirectly on this resource. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of Latosols in the Araripe Plateau under different vegetation cover. Four areas were sampled: area under native vegetation preserved; Area under native degraded vegetation, with low natural regeneration; Area under conventional cultivation with cassava and an area under agro-energetic cultivation with eucalyptus. Chemical, physical and quality indicators of organic matter were studied. The vegetation cover altered the soil attributes, being the degraded area, responsible for the greatest alterations, when compared to the preserved native vegetation. The joint analysis of chemical attributes and humic fractions of soil organic matter showed that the variables exchangeable calcium, phosphorus, sum of bases, effective cation exchange capacity of the soil, saturation by aluminum and total organic carbon were the most sensitive in the evaluation Of the Yellow Latosols of the Chapada do Araripe. The physical attributes that best described the quality aspects of Yellow Latosols in the Araripe Plateau were soil density, resistance to penetration and saturated hydraulic conductivity. In the cluster analysis of the areas, taking into account the chemical attributes and humic fractions of the soil organic matter, the area under native degraded vegetation was differentiated from all other areas. For the physical attributes of the soil there was a tendency to approximate the area under native vegetation preserved in the two layers studied and the area under agroenergetic use in the superficial layer, while the area under native vegetation degraded was different from the other environments.