This field study had the following objectives: to determine the most appropriate micronutrient extractor to evaluate manganese bioavailability in soils under no-tillage; to evaluate the interaction of soil manganese with humic acids in soils under no-tillage with and without manganese deficiency through electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR); and to evaluate manganese fractions (exchangeable, organic, oxides and residual) after manganese addition in soils under no-tillage with and without previous manganese deficiency for soybean. Four sites (I to IV) were selected to study the response curve to manganese (0 to 48 kg ha-1) fertilization in soybean. Sites I to III were located in Tibagi, state of Paraná (PR), Brazil and site IV was in Castro (PR). Manganese rates affected the manganese concentrations in the soil, but not the manganese concentrations in leaves and the amount of manganese taken up by plants. Exchangeable, organic and oxide forms of manganese increased with the increasing rates applied at site I, with the largest increase being observed for the organic fraction (changed from 5.4 mg kg-1 manganese in the control to 35.1 mg kg-1 of manganese in the highest manganese dose). Manganese was not detected by EPR in the solid samples of humic acid - pH 3.0. Manganese quantification in the same samples after nitric-perchloric digestion, along clear signals of manganese detected by EPR in samples of humic acid - pH 2.4, indicated that manganese in the samples was strongly linked to the functional (probably carboxylic) groups of humic acid. The fact that there was no effect of manganese on soybean yield might be due to the complexation of the nutrient by soil organic matter. In general, DTPA-TEA was the most reliable manganese extractor to evaluate manganese availability to soybean under no-tillage.
No till; soil extractor; manganese; EPR
