Diversification for nutrient cycling and sustainability

In an interview to A Granja Magazine, July 2021 edition (No. 871), professor and researcher Leandro Pereira Pacheco and doctoral student Andressa Selestina Dalla Côrt (Members of the Research and Innovation Group in Pure and Integrated Agricultural Production Systems – GPISI) talked a little about Diversification for nutrient cycling and sustainability. In the interview, the researchers said that the diversification of crops in a No-Till System increases nutrient cycling, which contributes to the sustainability of agricultural production.

The researchers claim the Mix system, consisting of four species in the same harvest, is the key to a resilient and sustainable agriculture, as it keeps the system alive throughout the off-season period (each species with different phenological cycles and perennial habits), in which carbon dioxide (CO2) is more efficiently incorporated into crop biomass and soil through regrowth and tiller emission. These results infer that diversified systems are agricultural environments with greater possibilities of systemic balance between soil-plant-atmosphere, through the formation of qualitative MOS arising from decomposition and nutrient release.

These results were obtained in a long-term protocol carried out at the Federal University of Rondonópolis (UFR), Southern Mato Grosso, where, since the 2013/14 harvest, several annual and cover crops have been evaluated in nutrient cycling for the productivity of the soybeans in PD. Soybean was cultivated in all experimental units during the harvest period, while in the off-season annual and grain crops were used, in single and intercropped systems.

The researchers also point out that this diversity brought to the systems increases soybean productivity, reflecting the phytomass and nutrients of Brachiaria ruziziensis and the mix, as they stand out in relation to other treatments with production of approximately 80 bags/hectare.

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