The current sugarcane management techniques employed involve vigorous soil revolvement with ploughs, heavy disks and subsoilers before planting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of modification of some physical properties of a kaolinitic Oxisol (LVd) and a kaolinitic - oxidic Oxisol (LVdf) under sugarcane and native forest in Jaboticabal county, São Paulo state, Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomized, in a 4 x 3 split plot scheme (four managements and three depths), with four replications. The following systems were used: plant sugarcane (CP); second ratoon sugarcane (C2), fourth ratoon cane (C4) and native forest (NF). The soil bulk density (BD), porosity and aggregate stability were evaluated in the 0-0.10; 0.10-0.20; 0.20-0.30 m layers. The effects of land use and management systems on the physical attributes at the studied depths were verified by analysis of variance, and significant means were compared by the Tukey's test (5%). The highest macroporosity and lowest microporosity in relation with the cultivated areas was observed for the LVdf under NF. However, only total porosity and BD in C2 and C4 differed from those in the NF. The longer the sugarcane cultivation time, the higher the BD, and the lower the macroporosity in both Oxisols. Nevertheless, the higher the Fe oxide content in the LVdf resulted in higher total porosity and lower BD, maintaining the porosity above 0.10 m³ m-³ in all management systems and soil layers. The sugarcane cultivation reduced the aggregate stability in relation to the NF.
Saccharum officinarum; bulk density; soil physical quality
