Soil Physical Quality of an Ultisol in Coffee Areas With Different Deployment Times

Abstract

The mechanization of coffee crops changes the soil structure due to intense machinery traffic, causing soil compaction, especially during harvesting. Soil attributes are important for the development of sustainable coffee farming as they can be indicators of soil quality. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the soil physical quality in coffee crops with different deployment times and a native forest, using a sensitivity index. The experiment was conducted in a Ultisol (Argissolo Vermelho amarelo) in Muzambinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The soil samples were collected in February 2017, in coffee crops of different deployment times (3, 16 and 32 years) and in an area of native forest for comparison purposes. The 32-year-old crop was harvested manually due to its age, while the 3 and 16-year-old areas were harvested with a selfpropelled harvester. Samples were collected in the planting row (R), under the coffee canopy (UCC) and in inter-row center (IRC), at depths of 0.00-0.10, 0.10-0.20 and 0.20-0.40 m, with three replications. In general, the largest accumulations of organic matter (OM) are in the 0.00-0.10 m layer at the inter-row center, and the 16-year-old crop showed the highest OM contents at UCC and IRC. Soil compaction increases with proximity to traffic lanes, regardless of crop age. The sensitivity index proved to be an efficient tool for comparison, indicating high soil sensitivity to coffee crop management and deployment time. However, despite the high sensitivity of the attributes, they do not present values that limit crop development, close to values found at forest area.