Soil tillage in SUCARGANE planting: water storage and soil resistance to penetration in the second ratoon

• Grant number: 19/24583-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2020
• End date: March 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Juliano Carlos Calonego
• Grantee: Nelson de Ponte Filho
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/20593-9 - Deep strip-tillage and liming in sugarcane: soil quality, greenhouse gas emissions, physiological parameters and yield, AP.BIOEN.TEM

Abstract

Deep tillage and traffic control have emerged as the new sugarcane reform system and doubts regarding the target area, soil preparation depth, and adequate liming commonly occur with these changes. In addition to the cultural response in terms of sugarcane productivity and longevity, it is essential to understand the impact of these changes on soil physics because this technique alters the structure of the soil in layers previously not rotated in farming and agriculture. Periodic evaluations need to be conducted to define the most sustainable soil preparation in addition to the adequacy of the dose of limestone in sugarcane. The objective of this work was to evaluate the residual effect of soil tillage systems and the differentiated dose of limestone in relation to water storage, soil resistance to penetration, and productivity of sugarcane stems. For this purpose, an experiment was performed using an alternating spacing of 1.4 x 0.5 m in Red Latosol with medium texture with an experimental design consisting of randomized blocks in a scheme of subdivided plots and four replications. The plots consist of two tillage systems: (1) conventional and (2) deep tillage. Subplots received two doses of limestone consisting of 0 and 2 times the recommended dose recommended by Spironello et al. 1996 for soil samples from the 0.0-0.20 and 0.20-0.40 m layers. After sugarcane harvesting, the soil penetration resistance will be verified in two moments, by means of an impact penetrometer, at seven points in the transept to the sugarcane cultivation lines. Soil moisture will be determined at different times by means of a Diviner® probe in 1.00 m long access pipes. Stalk yield will be determined by mechanical harvesting and weighing of stems from the overflow plot equipped with a load cell. Data will be submitted to analysis of variance and t-test of comparison of means at 5% probability of error.