SOIL AND ROOT SYSTEM ATTRIBUTES IN DIFFERENT FORAGE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
management, decision, semiarid, sustainability.
About 95% of the food consumed comes from the soil, however, 33% of the world's soils are already degraded. In addition, little information exists on the relationship between forage management and soil properties. Given this scenario, the objective was to evaluate soil and root system attributes in different forage production systems. The field experiments were carried out at the Experimental Stations of the Instituto Agronômico de Pernambuco (IPA) located in Itambé, in in northern forest area of Pernambuco (PE) and in Arcoverde, in backwoods of PE. In Itambé, the experimental treatments consisted of: i) intercropped pastures Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. (Braquiária) + Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth. (Sabiá); ii) Braquiária + [Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Steud.] (Gliricídia) in a randomized block experimental design, with three replications. In Arcoverde, the cultivar evaluated in two experiments was forage cactus Mexican elephant ear palm (Opuntia stricta Haw.). Effects of sampling site and soil depth on soil bulk density (BD) were verified (p<0.05) and higher root dry mass values were found at the sampling site in line (IL) in all edaphic depths (p<0.05), in the Itambé experiment. In the experiment I of Arcoverde there were no significant effects in relation to the dry mass of roots at depths 0-10 and 10-20 cm, nor for the soil BD at this greater depth (p<0.05). And both in experiment I and in experiment II the soil BD was below the critical limit in all treatments and depths evaluated. Such information contributes to a better characterization of the soil and root system in different production systems, in order to promote higher livestock yields and avoid soil degradation.