Soil quality indicators in native vegetation and irrigated banana trees areas at Chapada of Apodi, Ceará, Brazil

Abstract

The present research evaluated the alterations to the chemistries and micro biologics properties of soils under natural vegetation and under banana trees cultivation in the area of the Chapada of Apodi- CE. It was tested the hypothesis that the agricultural use causes environmental alterations that can reduce the biomass and the microbial activity, in relation to the area under natural forest. Four samples of compound soil were collected from homogenized simple samples, in three depths (0-5; 5-15 and 15-25 cm). It was used delineation completely randomized in subdivided portions, in the portions the areas and in the subportions the depths, with four repetitions. As indicators were evaluated the chemical properties of the soil; besides total organic carbon, carbon of the microbial biomass, basal breathing of the soil and the microbial and metabolic quotients. The potential risks of salinity and saturation for sodium are worthless. The handling practices reduced the nitrogen and the total organic carbon in the area under cultivation of banana trees. The carbon of the microbial biomass presented decreasing values with the increase of the depth in the cultivated area, whereas significant difference was not observed with 5% of probability by the test of Tukey, in the area of natural forest. The basal breathing of the soil, in a general way, was larger in the natural area than the cultivated one.