Vale do Rio Doce, MG presents an ancestral history of occupation and use of soil that has contributed to environmental degradation, mostly caused by pasture with fire always being used as a form of management. Agroforestry systems have shown efficient results in recovering these degraded areas. This study assessed the effects of an agroforestry system on the recovery of degraded areas where the soil was degraded by pasture in Ilha Funda, Periquto, Minas Gerais. The system was implanted in 1994 and it has followed agro-ecological principles focused on natural regeneration and species succession. In 1998, some soil samples were collected in the recovery area and two other areas contiguous to it: a degraded one, similar to the recovery area at the beginning of the process and the other composed by pasture. The chemical attributes of the soil were determined and organic matter characterization was carried out. The recovery area soil using the agroforestry system showed better conditions than the pasture and the degraded area soils, presenting a greater organic carbon dynamics and better nutrient content. Although the amount of total soil organic carbon was higher in the pasture soil, the agroforestry system is fast achieving the same amounts of stable carbon formulas found in the pasture soil and showing greater dynamics in the less stable organic fractions. This study confirmed the efficiency of the agroforestry systems conducted according to the agroecological principles for recovery of degraded areas.
Agroecology; natural regeneration; species succession
