Physical attributes and soil carbon stock in an agroforestry system under different tree arrangements

• Grant number: 24/21768-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering - Soil and Water Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Zigomar Menezes de Souza
• Grantee: Xu Yutong
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Agrícola (FEAGRI). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Conventional agriculture, characterized by the use of monoculture and cultivation under full sunlight, has caused increasingly evident environmental impacts. The preservation of natural resources is essential, and the reduction of chemical contamination becomes urgent, thus, a more sustainable model for agriculture is necessary, and Agroforestry Systems (AFS) present a viable alternative, allowing the diversification of crops and promoting the conservation of natural resources, in addition to reducing soil degradation. This study aims to evaluate whether Arabica coffee in Agroforestry Systems (AFS), under different tree arrangements, has a positive impact on the physical attributes and carbon stock in the soil. For this, Arabica coffee varieties (Coffea arabica) will be analyzed in different tree arrangements composed of timber and service tree species. The study will be carried out at Fazenda Pedra Preta, located in the municipality of Careaçu, state of Minas Gerais, and the experimental description will be a collection carried out at 20 points in the area of approximately 1.0 ha of each treatment, with three treatments, totaling 60 points within 3.0 ha, in which the following systems were implemented: 1 - SAF Mantiqueira with manual harvesting (SAF-M) - Agroforestry System spaced every 12 m with planting of trees within the coffee production lines (Coffea arabica) of the Mundo Novo variety; 2 - SAF Alley with mechanized harvesting (SAF-A) - Agroforestry system with rows of trees every 48.6 m in the production of coffee (Coffea arabica) of the Catucaí yellow 24/137 variety, 3 - Conventional system with monoculture of coffee (Coffea arabica) of the Mundo Novo variety and the Mata Nativa, classified as a semi-deciduous seasonal forest, part of the Atlantic Forest biome. The systems present in the project were implemented at different times, with SAF-A being the only one implemented recently, since SAF-M, despite the trees having been implemented in 2022, the coffee plantations within this system are over 20 years old, the same time as the coffee plantations present in the conventional system. The physical and chemical attributes of the soil analyzed will be soil density, soil porosity, soil resistance to penetration, aggregate stability and total carbon content and stock at depths of 0.00-0.10, 0.10-0.20, 0.20-0.40 and 0.40-0.60 m. Therefore, from the realization of this scientific research it is expected to obtain data that prove the interference of Agroforestry Systems, under different tree arrangements, with reduction of soil density and soil resistance to penetration and increase in porosity and carbon stock in the soil in areas with coffee production.