ABSTRACT Soil quality can be understood as its capacity to provide several essential services within the ecosystem and has been used to understand the impact of different managements, providing information that proves the benefits and your maintenance of the agroecosystem. To understand the impact of different managements, this study aimed to compare the chemical, physical, and biological soil properties in pasture areas managed with different recovery times in an integrated crop-livestock system about perennial pastures and secondary forest. The following management systems were evaluated: Secondary Forest (SF), Perennial Pasture (PP), pasture recovered to five years through the intercropping corn + Brachiaria brizantha (Palisade grass) (ICL5), and pasture recovered to eight years through the intercropping corn + Brachiaria brizantha (Palisade grass) (ICL8). Different soil properties were evaluated, namely: Chemical: pH, H+Al, Al 3+ , P, K + , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , TOC, SB, CEC, V, and m; Physical: soil bulk density (Bd), total porosity (Tp), macroporosity (Ma), microporosity (Mi), soil resistance to penetration (Pr), and gravimetric soil water content (GWc); and biological: soil microbial biomass carbon (SMB-C), basal soil respiration (BSR), metabolic quotient (qCO 2 ), and microbial quotient (qMic). Perennial pasture and ICL8 areas were the ones that most contributed to the increase in nutrients (Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , and K + ), TOC and sorption complex. The ICL8 area showed the best results in soil physical variables Ma, Tp, Pr, and GWc were the best results for the ICL8 area. Secondary forest and ICL8 areas presented the best results from SMB-C and qMic. Between periods of pasture recovery through the integration of crops and livestock, the longer the recovery time, the greater its beneficial effects on the different chemical, physical and biological soil properties, overcoming secondary forest and perennial pasture.

ABSTRACT. In Maranhão State, Brazil, soils are naturally acidic, nutrient-deficient, and prone to cohesion and erosion. Removing the natural cover to establish pastures causes physical, chemical, and biological changes in the soil. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the contents and stocks of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and particle-size fractions of soil organic matter (SOM) in pastures with different years of recovery, and compare them with a secondary forest in the Legal Amazon. Four treatments were evaluated: secondary forest, perennial pasture, and perennial pastures recovered for five years and eight years, both of the latter through corn + brachiaria intercropping. The contents and stocks of total organic carbon, total nitrogen, C, and N from the soil organic matter particle-size fractions, as well as the carbon management indexes (CMI) of the 0.00-0.10, 0.10-0.20, 0.20-0.30, and 0.30-0.40 m layers were evaluated. The perennial pasture environment presented the highest total soil C and N contents; however, when observing the granulometric fractions and CMI, these increases were qualitative in relation to the secondary forest. Pasture recovery over eight years contributed to an improvement of soil quality similar to secondary forest, indicating that an increase in SOM quality, quantity, and recovery time related to increased pasture capacity to accumulate C and N in the soil.

ABSTRACT. The cashew pseudo fruit can be used to animal feeding in tropical and subtropical countries as Brazil, Ivory Coast and Vietnam. Thus, our objective was to evaluate the intake, digestibility of nutrients and nitrogen balance of dehydrated cashew apple by-product to sheep. The experiment was carried out with 24 sheep in a completely randomized design with the treatments distributed in a 4 x 2 factorial scheme to test the inclusion (11, 21, 28 and 33% dry matter basis) and the grinding sizes (3 and 19 mm diameter) of dehydrated cashew apple by-product. To grinding sizes there was no effect to intake and digestibility, suggesting the use of dehydrated cashew apple by-product either finely or coarsely milled. The inclusion up to 33% of dehydrated cashew apple by-product inclusion did not affect voluntary intake and nitrogen balance. However, when including above 21%, there was a reduction of ether extract digestibility and more than 28% reduced dry matter and organic matter digestibility.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito da idade do componente pastagem (Urochloa brizantha) sobre as propriedades biológicas do solo, em um sistema de integração lavoura-pecuária. O experimento foi realizado numa área de Cerrado, com 92 ha, dividida em seis piquetes de aproximadamente 15 ha. Cada piquete representou um estágio diferente do componente pastagem: em formação, P0; de um ano, P1; dois anos, P2; três anos, P3; e final de 3,5 anos, Pf. As amostras foram coletadas à profundidade de 0-10 cm. As propriedades biológicas do solo - carbono da biomassa microbiana (CBM), respiração da biomassa mircobiana (C-CO2), quociente metabólico (qCO2); quociente microbiano (q mic); e o carbono orgânico total (COT) - foram avaliadas e comparadas entre as pastagens de diferentes idades, e entre uma área adjacente sob vegetação nativa de Cerrado e uma pastagem degradada (PCD). O CBM, o q mic e o COT aumentaram gradativamente, e o qCO2 diminuiu, nas pastagens de diferentes idades. Em comparação à PCD, o CBM, o q mic e o COT foram maiores, e o qCO2 menor, nas pastagens. O sistema de integração lavoura-pecuária melhorou os parâmetros biológicos e imobilizou carbono no solo, em comparação à pastagem degradada.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the pasture (Urochloa brizantha) component age on soil biological properties, in a crop-livestock integrated system. The experiment was carried out in a Brazilian savannah (Cerrado) area with 92 ha, divided into six pens of approximately 15 ha. Each pen represented a different stage of the pasture component: formation, P0; one year, P1; two years, P2; three years, P3; and final with 3.5 years, Pf. Samples were taken in the 0-10 cm soil depth. The soil biological parameters - microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass respiration (C-CO2), metabolic quotient (qCO2), microbial quotient (q mic), and total organic carbon (TOC) - were evaluated and compared among different stages of the pasture, and between an adjacent area under native Cerrado and another area under degraded pasture (PCD). The MBC, q mic and TOC increased and qCO2 reduced under the different pasture stages. Compared to PCD, the pasture stages had higher MBC, q mic and TOC, and lower qCO2. The crop-livestock integrated system improved soil microbiological parameters and immobilized carbon in the soil in comparison to the degraded pasture.