The soil quality (SQ) evaluation is an important part of agricultural planning. It allows the identification and improvement of high-yielding management systems with characteristics of environment preservation. This study was carried out in two long-term soil management experiments (10 and 15 years) in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Soil Quality Kit (SQK) developed by the Soil Quality Institute - ARS - USDA, compared to traditional soil science methods. Twelve treatments of cropping and tillage systems in a range of different tillage intensities, biomass input amounts and urea-N fertilization (0 to 144 kg ha-1) were evaluated. A native vegetation field close to each experimental area was sampled as reference treatment. The following SQ indicators: water infiltration, soil respiration, soil density, N-NO3- + N-NO2-, water aggregate stability and pH were evaluated. The correlation between the SQK and soil science methods was generally high. The highest correlation was observed with pH (r = 0.98) and the lowest for infiltration (r = 0.42). The soil management treatments were theoretically classified by crescent SQ order. The carbon pool index (CPI) was obtained dividing soil organic carbon stock of each treatment by native vegetation soil organic carbon 0 to 5 cm deep. The CPI reproduces the SQ classification efficiently. Aggregate stability, soil respiration and N-NO3- + N-NO2- were the most efficient indicators at discriminating SQ. The Soil Quality Test Kit was an efficient tool to evaluate the soil quality in both experimental areas. Highest soil quality levels were achieved under no-tillage with a grass - tropical legume consortium, which provides soil cover and high carbon and nitrogen addition through crop residues.
Soil conservation; soil quality indicators; soil tillage systems; cover crops
