Physical attributes and organic material in pastures of Brachiaria brizantha at degradation levels

Abstract

Pastures cover, in Brazil, around 165 million ha, most of them are at some degradation level. Recovering these pastures is essential. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensibility of soil organic matter (SOM) and its physical attributes in pasture soil at different degradation levels (1 to 4), Capoeiras (1 and 2) and secondary Forest (Control). Samples were collected at four depths (0.00-0.05, 0.05-0.10, 0.10-0.20 and 0.20-0.40 m). We verified higher values for SOM and hydraulic conductivity (Ko) in Forest, especially in the most superficial layer (0.00-0.05). We noted low values for macroporosity in this area. In all areas under Pastures lower values for Ko were observed in the superficial layer (0.00-0.05 m) when compared to layers 0.05-0.10 and 0.10-0.20 m, which indicates that the pasture management and cattle trampling negatively affect the physical quality of the pastures. For field capacity and wilting point the average values were observed in Pasture 4 (more degraded), which caused higher values for water availability. According to the principal components analysis, except for SOM at 0.20-0.40 m, all variables studied presented correlation above 0.6. From grouping analysis, we separated 3 groups: Forest; Capoeiras 1 and Capoeira 2 and Pastures 1 to 4.