Effects of nine monoculture agricultural systems on the fertility of an agricultural soil

Resumen

Objective: Determine and evaluate the effect of monoculture practices on the levels of seven soil fertility indicators

Design/Methodology/Approach: Nine monoculture agricultural systems were evaluated, in completely randomized blocks with four repetitions, during the 2012-2016 period. The plot was divided into 9 sections with four repetitions, giving a total of 36 plots where the 9 local systems studied were distributed until the conclusion of the experiment in 2020.The SAS VS 9 system was used for the statistical analysis of the results.

Results: The results indicated that the agricultural systems changed the chemical characteristics of the soil, highlighting four monoculture systems that included legumes (beans and fava beans) or the corn-bean (MF) and corn-fava bean (MH) combinations, which improved the organic matter (OM), total N (TN), and P content of the soil.

Study Limitations/Implications: The small plots that were contaminated by the tillage actions of continuous treatments, caused the conclusion of the experiment. Everything indicates that treatments can be reduced and the size of the plots increased.

Findings/Conclusions: The results indicated that the agricultural systems changed the chemical characteristics of the soil, highlighting four monoculture systems that included legumes (beans and fava beans) or the corn-bean (MF) and corn-fava bean (MH) combinations, which improved the organic matter (OM), total N (TN), and P content of the soil.