The black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) has a social importance and it is mainly cultivated by small farmers, however the relationship between the spatial variability of nutrients in soil and yield of black pepper is little known. Thus, the purpose of this study was to analyse the spatial variability of Ca, Mg, K, P in soil and black pepper yield, cultivated in a distrophic Red-Yellow Latosol. The study was carried out in a black pepper plantation, in São Mateus, in the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. A 3 x 1,8 m spacing in a mesh of 100 x 120 m (total area 12.000 m2), with 126 sampling points was used. Soil samples at depth of 0-0.2 m were collected at each point of the grid, in order to evaluate the soil chemical attributes. The variables presented a moderate and strong spatial dependence structure allowing their mapping by geostatistics techniques. Kriging maps were shown to be important tools for the understanding of spatial variability of soil nutrients, and it may be essential for decision making in the black pepper crop.
Piper nigrum L.; chemical attributes; geostatistics
