Impacts of Forest-Agriculture Conversion on Soil Physical-Water Attributes in Amazon Basin, Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Several studies have shown that negative changes in physical attributes affect root growth and plant development. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the impacts of forest-agricultural conversion on the physical-water attributes of the soil in the Amazon basin, southeastern Brazil. The study was carried out in Canutama - AM, in which areas of annatto, cupuaçu and guarana cultivation and a forest area were selected. Meshes of 90 m x 70 m, 90 m x 56 m and 54 m x 42 m were established, comprising 80 sampling points per layer. The points were georeferenced and the undisturbed soil samples were collected in volumetric rings to determine the physical and hydric attributes. data were submitted to descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. It was observed that aspects such as the implementation time of the different use and occupation systems can be controlling factors for the restoration of these physical properties.