Semina: Ciências Agrárias (Aug 2017)

Microbial activities, carbon, and nitrogen in an irrigated Quartzarenic Neosol cultivated with cowpea in southwest Piauí

  • Larissa Castro Diógenes,
  • José Ferreira Lustosa Filho,
  • Alessandro Franco Torres da Silva,
  • Júlio César Azevedo Nóbrega,
  • Rafaela Simão Abrahão Nóbrega,
  • João Irene Filho,
  • Aderson Soares de Andrade Júnior

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5433/1679-0359.2017v38n4p1765
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 38, no. 4
pp. 1765 – 1774

Abstract

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The aim of this study was to evaluate microbial biomass and total organic carbon and nitrogen of an irrigated Quartzarenic Neosol cultivated with two cowpea cultivars in Bom Jesus, Piauí, Brazil. The experiment was conducted in a randomized experimental block design in split plots. The plots consist of two cowpea cultivars (Aracê and Tumucumaque) and the subplots were composed of five different irrigation regimes (L1 = 108.2; L2 = 214.7; L3 = 287.9; L4 = 426.1, and L5 = 527.7 mm). Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0-0.20 m in order to evaluate basal soil respiration, microbial biomass carbon, metabolic quotient, microbial quotient, content, and storage of soil carbon and nitrogen. Basal soil respiration, microbial biomass carbon, microbial metabolic quotient, and microbial quotient are influenced by the interaction between cowpea cultivars and irrigation. The cultivar Aracê showed greater stimulus to the microbial community, while the irrigation regimes with 214.7 and 287.9 mm (60 and 90% of ETo, respectively) provided the best moisture conditions for microbial activities.

Keywords