The tillage systems have the objective to offer an adequate physical conditions in soil for growth, development and productivity of crops. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different soil tillage systems on some physical properties of a distrophic Red Latosol soil (Typic Haplorthox), cultivated with cassava, in the Paraná state, Brazil. The treatments were: No-tillage (the soil was just revolved along the planting lines) - NT; Minimum Tillage (subsoiling at 0.30 m depth, followed by leveling) - MT; and Conventional Tillage (plowing with moldboard plow to the 0.25-0.30 m depth, followed by leveling) - CT. In the layers of 0-0.15 and 0.15-0.30 m, soil physical properties i.e soil bulk density (Bd), macroporosity (Mac), microporosity (Mic) and total porosity (Pt) were evaluated. The soil resistance to root penetration (SRP) was evaluated in 0.05 m intervals until the depth of 0.40 m, in two different periods of cassava growth. The results indicated higher values of Bd and lower values of Mac and Pt in NT and MT than in CT system. The air-filled porosity was <10% in MT and NT. The SRP was higher in NT than in CT and MT, with values >2.0 MPa until the depth of 0.25 m. The results of this study suggest that soil physical quality may be restrictive to growth of crops in NT. It may be justified by the higher values of SRP and reduced soil aeration.
conventional tillage; no-tillage; soil resistance to root penetration
