Cropping systems and soil managment can change soil chemical properties. Soil fertility characteriscs were assessed after eight years (1985 to 1993) on a typical dystrophic red latosol located in Passo Fundo, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Four soil management systems - 1) no-tillage, 2) minimum tillage, 3) conventional tillage using a disk plow plus disk harrow, and 4) conventional tillage using a moldboard plow plus disk harrow - and three cropping systems [I (wheat/soybean), II (wheat/soybean and common vetch/corn), and III (wheat/soybean, common vetch/corn and white oat/soybean)] were evaluated. A randomized complete block design, with split-plots and three replicates, was used. The main field plots (4 x 90m) were formed by soil management systems, while the subplots (4 x 10m) consisted of crop systems. The pH and concentration of exchangeable Al, exchangeable Ca + Mg, soil organic matter, extractable P, and exchangeable K were affected by soil management and cropping systems. Higher contents of soil organic matter, extractable P, and exchangeable K were observed in the 0-5cm layer for the conservation tillage systems (minimum tillage and no-tillage), as compared to the conventional tillage systems (disk plow and moldboard plow). The values of soil organic matter, P, and K were higher in the 0-5 cm layer, when compared to the ones observed in the 15-20cm layer, in all soil management and cropping systems.
crop rotation; soil fertility; conventional tillage; minimum tillage; no-tillage system
