ABSTRACT: Runoff in agricultural areas with intensive application of pig slurry can transport significant amounts of nutrients. This study evaluates the effects of different pig slurry (PS) application rates (0, 50, 100, and 200 m3 ha-1) on nutrient loss through runoff during soybean cultivation under no-tillage. It was conducted at two sites in southern Brazil, one on an Alfisol (27° 43' south and 50° 3' west) and one on an Inceptisol (27° 47' south and 50° 18' west). The PS was applied to the soil once at the beginning of the soybean cycle. Each plot was 11 m long in the direction of the slope and 3.5 m wide. To induce runoff, artificial rainfall was applied in four different tests (T1, T2, T3, T4), with an intensity of 65 mm h-1 for 90 minutes. The first test was performed one day after PS application, while the other tests were performed throughout the soybean cycle. During each test, runoff samples were collected at 10-min intervals after the beginning of runoff. The runoff amount and the NO3-, NH4+, P, and K+ concentrations in the runoff were measured. In T1, nutrient transport from the Alfisol and the Inceptisol increased with increasing PS doses. In some cases, this effect was still noticeable in T2 and T3, but not in the last test (T4). The transported amounts of NO3-, NH4+, P, and K+ decreased as the period between PS application and simulated rainfall increased. Regardless of the soil and the treatment, NO3- was transported in the greatest quantities, followed by K+, NH4+, and P.

Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar parâmetros de ajuste para a equação universal de perda de solo revisada (Rusle) de um solo submetido à aplicação de dejeto líquido de suínos. Os tratamentos consistiram de 0, 50, 100 e 200 m3 ha-1 de dejeto líquido de suínos (DLS), após o cultivo de aveia-preta (Avena strigosa), além da aplicação de 50 m3 ha-1 de DLS por seis vezes à superfície do solo, em uma sequência temporal, e de um controle com solo sem cultivo e sem dejeto. As avaliações foram feitas quanto à massa de matéria seca da parte aérea da aveia-preta, à massa de raízes e aos resíduos da cultura semi-incorporados ao solo, às perdas de solo por meio de chuva simulada e aos parâmetros para modelagem de erosão hídrica. A aplicação de dejeto líquido de suínos à superfície do solo causou a diminuição dos valores de consolidação do solo (Cf), o aumento da massa de raízes vivas e mortas e dos resíduos culturais incorporados à camada superficial (0.0-0.1 m) do solo (Bu), e a redução dos valores de uso anterior da terra (PLU) na Rusle.

Abstract: The objective of this work was to determine adjustment parameters for the revised universal soil loss equation (Rusle) of a soil subjected to pig slurry application. Treatments consisted of 0, 50, 100, and 200 m3 ha-1 pig slurry (PS), after the cultivation of black oat (Avena strigosa), besides the application of 50 m3 ha-1 PS for six times onto the soil surface in a temporal sequence, and a control treatment of soil without cultivation and without pig slurry application. The evaluations were performed for black oat shoot dry mass, root mass and crop residues semi-incorporated into the soil (RMR), soil losses by means of simulated rain, and the parameters for water erosion modeling. The pig slurry application onto soil surface caused a reduction in the values of the soil consolidation parameter (Cf), an increase in the mass of living and dead roots and cultural residues incorporated in the upper layer (0.0-0.1 m) of the soil (Bu), and a reduction in the subfactor prior land use (PLU) of the Rusle.

ABSTRACT: The conversion of native grassland into farmland causes changes in the soil. Tillage has profound effects on soil organic matter. The intensification of soil tillage decreases soil quality by reducing aggregate stability. Soil aggregate stability and soil organic matter are key indicators for soil quality and environmental sustainability in agro-ecosystems. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the total organic carbon content and the physical and chemical fractions of the organic matter in a soil under different uses and types of management over 27 years. Four soil tillage treatments with two annual crops were evaluated (no-tillage, NT; rotating tillage, RT; minimum tillage, MT; and conventional tillage, CT), as well as bare soil (BS) (standard plot of the Universal Soil Loss Equation - USLE) and natural grassland (NG) as a reference area. The experiment was carried out in an Inceptisol (Cambissolos) in southern Brazil. We determined total organic carbon (TOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC), and organic carbon associated with soil minerals (OCam). The chemical fractionation of carbon was into fulvic and humic acids, and humin. In addition, soil aggregates were divided into five size classes. The type of soil tillage affected the soil organic carbon content, namely TOC, POC, and OCam, as well as the composition of the physical and chemical fractions and their distribution in the arable soil layer. There was a positive relationship between stable aggregates and organic carbon in the soil: the higher the proportion of aggregates in class 1, the higher the organic carbon content. The results support the hypothesis that the carbon stock depends on intensification of a conservation tillage system with a continuous input of C through biomass, which maintains and supplies a continuous flow of C to the carbon transformation processes in the soil.