This study aimed to evaluate the effect of atrazine + nicosulfuron on soil microbial activity, under the conventional and no-tillage systems. The experiment was carried out in an area of maize-brachiaria intercropping, where atrazine + nicosulfuron were applied at (1,500 + 10 and 1,500 + 30 g h-1) with a weed-handed area being maintained without prior cultivation and another area without weed control. At flowering, soil samples were collected to determine the rate of CO2 unfastening, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and metabolic quotient (qCO2) using the relation between accumulated CO2 and MBC. The rate of CO2 unfastening was lower only in plots without weed control. MBC was higher in the no-tillage system, being negatively affected due to the absence of vegetation. Lower MBC was observed in the weed-handed areas, probably due to the absence of straw. Under no-tillage system conditions, no difference was observed between the soil treatments with herbicide application and those without weed control. It can be concluded that the evaluated microbiological indicators were sensitive to the treatments, showing lower soil disturbance under no-tillage system conditions. However, in crop-livestock integration under the conventional system, the negative herbicide effect increase of nicosulfuron rate.
microbial biomass; respirometry; metabolic quotient
