Potential Use of Quartzipisamment under Agroforestry and Silvopastoral System for Large-Scale Production in Brazil

Abstract

The need to put into practice sustainable agricultural production systems has been supported by agroecology science that seeks to optimize land use to food production with the lowest impact on soil. This study evaluated soil quality, based on physical and chemical attributes, in agroforestry (AGF) and silvopastoral (SILVP) systems developed for large-scale food production. The study was carried out in the municipality of Itirapina, state of São Paulo, in two areas with AGF and SILVP system, compared to an area with a forest fragment and another with pasture in a Quartzipisamment Sand Neosol. The soil collections were carried out in the layers of 0.00–0.05, 0.05–0.10, 0.10–0.20, and 0.20–0.40 m, where physical soil attributes were evaluated (total porosity, microporosity, and microporosity, density, mean diameter of aggregates) as well as chemical attributes (macro- and micronutrients), in addition to carbon and nitrogen storage. To interpret the data, Tukey’s test was applied to compare means, and principal component analysis was used to better characterize the study environments. The results showed that agroforestry and silvopastoral systems developed for large-scale production are efficient in improving chemical and physical attributes that reflect on soil quality, especially in the superficial layers of the soil, overcoming pasture and the natural regeneration process. Carbon and nitrogen storage were the main variables that differentiated the production systems, highlighting the importance of the AGF and SILVP systems as more sustainable agricultural intensification strategies, even in soils of low agricultural suitability.