Hydric erosion and initial development of the Eucalyptus grandis in a Red-Yellow Argisol submitted to different methods of soil preparation in the Vale do Paraíba-SP region / Erosão hídrica e desenvolvimento inicial do Eucalyptus grandis em um Argissolo Vermelho-Amarelo submetido a diferentes métodos de preparo de solo no Vale do Paraíba - SP

Marcos Cesar Passos Wichert

In Brazil, and especially in the state of São Paulo in the Vale do Paraíba region, eucalypt plantation is expanding to high declivity areas occupied with degraded pastures due to the limited agricultural value of these topographies and its greatest forest aptitude. Such areas are naturally more susceptible to the hydric erosion, which reduces the forest productivity and causes impacts in creeks and lakes. Therefore, the methods of soil preparation should be carefully defined to improve the initial growth of the forests together with soil conservation. Thus, this study had the objective to evaluate the effect of different methods of soil preparation on the soil and water losses by erosion, and on the initial development of E.grandis, clone, in steep areas. The experiment was installed in a 3 x 2 factorial design, with three intensities of soil preparation (manual pitting, mechanical pitting and downhill subsoiling) and two systems of residues management (with and without harvesting residues), with 4 blocks, in a Red-Yellow Argisol dystrophic (medium/clayey texture), with an average declivity of 20,3%, in Igaratá-SP. The soil loss and the growth of the forest were followed during 1 year, between March of 2004 and February of 2005. In two treatments, manual pit and maintenance of the residues (MAC) and in the subsoiling without residues (SUS), the erosion was measured directly through the method of the standart plots, installed in all the repetitions, and with 14 x 24 meters dimensions. An additional standard plot without soil preparation and residues was also installed. The erosion data was grouped and analyzed in three periods (0 to 2, 3 to 7, and 8 to 12 months). For the other treatments, the erosion was estimated using models (named per period and global) from multiple linear regressions between the erosion observed in the treatments MAC and SUS, and independent variables originated from local attributes of each plot and from the measurement of 15 pins installed inside the plots. The soil and the water eroded, collected in the standard plots were chemically analyzed to quantify the lost of macronutrients. The initial growth of the eucalypt was determined estimating soil coverage and aboveground biomass at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. For the standard-plots, there was larger erosion in the treatment SUS than in MAC (P=0.07), with average values of 12.9 and 2.4 Mg ha-1 year-1, respectively. For both treatments, the erosion was reduced with the growth of the forest. The erosion models only retained the variable of the pins for the first 2 periods, when erosions were larger. For the third period and for the global model, just local variables were retained: volume of prepared soil, soil coverage and clay content. Both models presented the same trend of predicting larger erosion in the treatment with subsoiling, which also obtained a small growth gain at the end of the first year (9%). For the residues, its maintenance in the area reduced the growth slightly (9%), similar to the mechanical pitty. Most of the loss of nutrients, 60%, were in the eroded soil, and this amount was larger than the rainfall inputs, but much smaller than the exportation by removing the forest residues. Thus, pondering the gains of initial growth and the expected erosion losses, the maintenance of the residues in the site together with the use of mechanical pitting can be identified as the best soil preparation option for these areas.

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