The attributes of plant, in no-tillage (bean grain yield - GY) and soil (mechanical resistance to penetration - RP, bulk density - BD, gravimetric - GM, and volumetric -VM moisture), in a Typic Acrustox soil at the Faculdade de Engenharia de Ilha Solteira (Unesp), Brazil, were analyzed in the year of 2006. The purpose was to study the variability and linear and spatial correlations among the attributes (plant and soil), aiming to select an index of soil physical quality with good capacity to represent bean grain productivity. A geostatistical grid was installed to collect soil and plant data, with 135 sample points, in an area of 7,500 m². The studied attributes showed high to low variability, with excellent spatial performances, and ranged between 13.9 and 39.8 meters. Otherwise, the linear correlation between GY and the soil attributes (RP, BD, GM and VM), due to the large number of data, were low. Those with best correlations with GY were BD1 and RP1. However, regarding spatial variability, an inverse correlation took place between GP and BD1. So, the bulk density, analyzed in soil surface layer, proved to be the best index of soil physical quality in Selvíria, for bean grain productivity.
soil management; soil physical quality; no-tillage; precision agriculture; Phaseolus vulgaris
