The objective of this work was to characterize erosion and soil conservation effect on properties of Luvissolo and to evaluate the behavior of cotton/green manure rotation with or without rhizobium inoculation in the improvement of soil productivity and cotton yield. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse of UFC/CCA, using cylinders of PVC with 11 kg of soil. The treatments had been defined as: slightly eroded layer (CI and C) and severely eroded layer (DI and D) cultivated with green manure with and without rhizobium innoculation. The experimental design was completely randomized, with 6 replications. The height of plants, number of fruit per plant, dry matter of the aerial part, boll weight per plant, number of seeds per plant, weight of seeds and nutrient contents in the soil before and after the application of the green manure were evaluated. The best edaphic conditions found in the conserved soil potentialised the positive effect of treatment CI with significant increase in cotton yield; the conditions in the degraded soil had been improved by the rotation beans cotton; the yields in both green manure and cotton in DI were lower than obtained in C.
crop rotation; soil degradation; rhizobium inoculation
