INDICADORES DE QUALIDADE EM UM LATOSSOLO VERMELHO-AMARELO SOB PASTAGEM EXTENSIVA NO PANTANAL MATOGROSSENSE

Abstract

The sustainable use of land constitutes a growing concern for different managements and inappropriate agricultural practices. Despite the expansion of scientific knowledge on soil it appears that the use of indicators to estimate their quality, independently does not allow a proper evaluation for the diagnosis of imbalances in production systems. This research aimed to diagnose changes on important physical and microbiological indicators in a dystrophic Red-Yellow (Oxissol) under extensive grazing conditions and native vegetation in the Brazilian Pantanal. The results showed significant deterioration in physical and microbiological environment anthropized with average reductions in indicators of 51.62%, 10.30%, 16.36%, for microbial carbon, basal respiration, percentage of wet aggregates, respectively, and increases for soil density, soil resistance to penetration, metabolic quotient of 184.68%, 142.18%, 88.31%, respectively. By inserting these results in a Qualigram allowed to obtain a quantitative index of soil quality under extensive grazing equal to -0.0814. Based on this index has qualified sustainable management of cumulative effects on pasture as a "system under collapse" compared to the native environment.