Brazil is the most important exporter of cashew nut in the world. The production is concentrated in the northeast region, which accounts for 97 % of the national production. However, in the recent years the cashew nut production has been declining, specially in the state of Ceará, mainly due to inadequate soil management. The aim of this study was to evaluate alterations in the physical and chemical properties of an Ultisol submitted to distinct soil management practices and the development of dwarf cashew trees in a field experiment. The following soil management systems were evaluated: disc harrow + weeding, mechanic mowing + weeding, hand mowing + localized weeding, vegetal cover + localized weeding, vegetal cover + organic residue cover and herbicide use. A split-plot design arranged in randomized blocks was used, considering the different management systems as plots and soil depths as split-plots. Three replications were used. The following soil physical properties were analyzed: granulometry, bulk density, particle density, soil penetration resistance, hydraulic conductivity, soil porosity, as well as chemical properties (exchangeable elements, soil pH, organic matter and phosphorus fractions), and cashew nut yield, plant height and canopy diameter from 1999 to 2002. The management systems that resulted in the most intense soil mobilization and fragmentation of biomass of cover plants (disc harrow, localized weeding and mechanical mowing) favored the degradation of physical and chemical properties, thus reducing the soil quality. Higher and more stable cashew nut yields were obtained in the systems where the practice of removing the vegetation around the trees (localized weeding) had been abandoned, resulting in higher organic matter inputs and absence of soil disturbance. The practice of localized weeding is therefore not recommendable for perennial crops.
P fractionation; soil quality; localized weeding; cashew nut; soil-physical properties; soil-chemical properties
