Soil-Landscape relationships and sustainable management of Petric Plintosols in the State of Tocantins (Brazil)

• Grant number: 24/05549-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2030
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Pablo Vidal Torrado
• Grantee: Pablo Vidal Torrado
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: José Lavres Junior
• Associated researchers: Fernando Dini Andreote ; Fernando Nadal Junqueira Villela ; Marcia Regina Calegari ; Miguel Cooper ; Paulo Marcos de Paula Vasconcelos ; RODRIGO ESTEVAM MUNHOZ DE ALMEIDA ; Tiago Tezotto ; Wenceslau Geraldes Teixeira
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/11684-5 - Geochronology of petroplinthites and the evolutionary relationship between the Dissected Plateau of Tocantins and the Mangabeiras Plateau (east-central TO, Brazil), BP.DD

Abstract

The tropical gravel soils, classified as concretionary Petric Plintosols (FFc), were always considered soils of low agricultural aptitude, being relegated to extensive pastures. With the agricultural border expansion in the states of MATOPIBA group (Brazil), these soils recently had intensive grain crops, especially soybean and corn ones, in a representative range of 4 million ha of such soils in Tocantins. Initial results of Embrapa-TO show large variations of grain productivity in these soils. In general, this behavior can be attributed to the great morphological and physical diversity of the FFc. Another factor that influences the performance of crops in these soils is the varied effectiveness of management actions adopted in each farm, mostly due to the absence of research results that support technical management recommendations for its cultivation. This project intends to investigate the causes of FFC's surface and depth spatial variability and to establish pedology-geomorphology-geology relationships to explain or even predict the occurrence of these variations, thus providing a technological package of sustainable management. The different occurrences of petroplinthite in FFC and related soils (petroplintic latosols) must be associated with local differences in geology, landscape evolution, relief position, or even the differential degradation state of petroplinthites, which are related to FFc greater or lesser agricultural potential. The choice of the TO State for this project is strategic since it is the most significant occurrence of FFc in Brazil and one of the largest in the world, with extensive continuous areas of these soils cultivated with intensive agriculture. Geological variability and landforms in this study should guarantee representativeness to the rest of the national territory. The integration of pedological and geomorphological studies promises a better understanding of the landscape to establish models and predictions that will assist in future pedological mappings, which is one of the landmarks of PRONASOLOS, fostering recommendations for sustainable grain cultivation in the most widely used FFc for agriculture. The inclusion of soil physical-hydric studies in representative toposequences meets the main hypothesis of control of crop productivity, helping to understand the FFc variants with higher agricultural potential. Some management strategies need to be tested and validated under grain cultivation conditions in gravel soils, with particular attention to soil health since it promotes production systems and regards the soil´s biological, chemical, and physical fertility. In this study, we intend to understand the productive sustainability in FFc "types" strategies and recommendations for appropriately using and managing these soils. (AU)