TATIANE DA SILVEIRA GARCIA
Abstract:
Soils are important natural elements in landscape composition. However, it's one of the resources very degraded by society due to the occupation type, use and management used. With this in mind, intensive cultivation of the soil alters its physical, chemical and biological properties, which directly influences its productivity. Thus, determining the physical and chemical quality of the soil through physical and chemical characteristics is of fundamental importance in the implementation of more appropriate uses and management; This contributes not only to increasing productivity, but also to the preservation of the innumerable natural qualities of the soil, achieved throughout its evolution. Therefore, it's advisable to use knowledge of Geography, Pedology or other sciences as instruments of management of the use/occupation and management, especially at the local and regional levels, respecting the areas of interest of environmental preservation and the necessary conditions for the life of the terrestrial flora and fauna populations. Besides the evolution of land use, using the methodological bases elaborated by IBGE and presented in the Technical Manual of land use, of 2006, the present work also proposed to evaluate the relationship of land use and management through its characteristics such as texture, density, porosity, aeration space, soil water retention and movement and chemical characteristics such as pH, organic matter and nutrients, based on the Soil Analysis Methods Manual published by EMBRAPA in 1997, in areas cultivated with sugarcane and under pasture, comparing them with areas under natural vegetation, in a Dystrophic Red Latosol of Ituiutaba (MG). The areas under pasture presented a higher soil density, indicating compaction by cattle trampling. The analysis of variance didn't detect significant difference in saturated hydraulic conductivity and other values that measure soil water movement. The degradation detected in soil use and management is due more to the degree of technology used in soil management than to the types of use. As future works, it's suggested to evaluate these characteristics in areas with longer use time, especially with sugarcane.
