Abstract

OJEDA, Alonso D; STEIN, Marianela  and  LOPEZ-HERNANDEZ, Danilo. Organic carbon sequestration and fertility changes in a savanna's ultisol of the Venezuelan Amazonia. Bioagro [online]. 2009, vol.21, n.3, pp.195-202. ISSN 1316-3361.

Carbon sequestration and fertility changes were evaluated after four years of cover crop settlement with Urochloa dictyoneura, Stylosanthes capitata and Centrosema macrocarpum in a sandy acid soil fertilized with 1.0 and 0.3 Mg·ha^-1 of phosphoric rock and NPK (12-24-12), respectively. The experiment was established at Sabaneta de Guayabal, north of Amazonas State, Venezuela, where two treatments were compared: natural (NS) and cultivated savanna (CS). Soil samples were taken at three depths (0-3, 3-6, and 6-10 cm) for determinations of texture, bulk density, 1:5 water-pH and KCl-pH, organic carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), total and available phosphorous (Pa), and exchangeable cations. The difference between the pHH₂O and pH_KCl allowed the determination of the colloidal charge density. Analysis were performed by ANOVA and LSD to assess differences between treatments and among depths. Correlation coefficients for the physical and chemical parameters were also obtained. The CS showed fertility changes associated with an increase of carbon sequestration of 2970 kg·ha^{-1 in the first 10 cm of soil, which induced higher electronegative values of the colloidal charge density in CS at the different depths. The CS also revealed higher contents of the exchangeable bases as well as N and Pa at the three different soil depths. It was concluded that in the cultivated savanna soils there were favorable physical and chemical changes in comparison with those of the natural savanna.}

Keywords : Urochloa dictyoneura; phosphate rock; isoelectric point; charges dependent on pH.