Upland rice grain yield sharply decreases when it is grown for two or more years in the same area. This study aimed to determine which attributes of a Cerrado Oxisol are more impacted by successive crops. Samples were taken in February 2011, at Santo Antônio de Goiás, GO, from soil layer of 0-0.10 m of three areas cropped with upland rice under no-tillage system for one, two or three years, respectively, and of a forest for determination of physical, chemical and biological attributes of soil. Multivariate analysis techniques were applied on data obtained in these areas. Rice crops caused changes in all physical attributes of soil and in most of the chemical and biological attributes when compared to the forest. The K, Cu, and Mn contents, metabolic and microbial (qmic) quotients and microbial biomass N:total N relationship (MBN:N) were responsible for discriminating the areas under successive rice crops. The more the years of successive rice crops, the more the soil conditions differed from the original soil of the forest. The metabolic quotient increased with the years of rice cultivation, which indicates an increase in disorder or stress condition in the soil microbiota.
Oryza sativa L.; no-tillage; multivariate analysis
