A field experiment, located on a private farm close to Piracicaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil, was conducted on a severely eroded soil (Ultisol-Entisol association), which has been planted with sugar cane for the last 30 years. The objective was to characterize the spatial variability of soil and plant attributes. An area of 50 by 70 m was divided into 10 columns and 14 rows in a grid of 5 m, resulting in 140 sampling points. Soil samples were collected from each of the sampling points at 0.00-0.20 m (topsoil) and 0.20-0.40 m (subsoil) depths. The field was planted with Crotalaria juncea, a green manure frequently used in association with sugar cane production, after tillage and lime application. At flowering, the above ground part of the plants were harvested in 2 by 2.5 m plots, from which the dry matter was calculated. Soil depth was measured as the depth down to the C horizon by augering. Values lying outside the plus or minus four standard deviation were rejected, which represented less than 1.5% of the data set. Spatial dependence was evaluated by the analysis of scaled semivariograms and their adjusted parameters. Except for P at 0.00-0.20 m, K at both depths, all attributes showed spatial dependence, which can be classified by the ranges of the semivariograms, separating the soil fertility (12 a 32 m) < plant components (25 a 32 m) < particle size fractions (32 a 42 m). The attributes which best explained crop yield were H + Al, cations exchange capacity and base saturation.
degraded soil; semivariogram; green manure; erosion