The no-tillage system with grain crops occupies today 2.5 millions hectares in the state of Paraná. Besides the traditional rotation system with wheat and soybean, in many areas green manure cover crops are also sown in the Winter and corn in the Summer. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in some of the soil chemical properties after eight years under the crop rotation systems: wheat-soybean-black oat-soybean (WOS), wheat-soybean-lupine-corn-black oat-soybean (LCO), lupine-corn-wheat-soybean (LC) and compare them with the traditional system wheat-soybean (WS) grown in two Oxisols at Londrina and Campo Mourão, State of Paraná, Brazil. The LC crop rotation system reduced the soil pH and the level of exchangeable calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) and increased the excangeable aluminum (Al3+), the potential acidity (H + Al), and the total-N in the soil as compared to the WS system. These characteristics showed intermediate values in the other systems. There were no significant differences on soil levels of organic carbon and exchangeable-K (K+) among the crop rotation systems. The decrease on the level of Ca2+ in the LC system was larger than the amount of Ca applied as lime to the soil during the experiment. Soil acidification was related to the nitrogen fertilization of wheat and corn. The maintenance of levels of K+ and the decrease on the levels of Ca2+ and Mg2+ demonstrate that there was a change in the preference of leaching cations in the LC crop rotation system. The formation of metal-organic complexes with divalent cations was assumed to be the possible mechanism responsible for the chemical alterations in the soil.
soil acidification; cation mobility; cover crops; green manure; calcium; crop rotation