Coastal Tableland is a landscape unit in the North East of Brazil in which the main soils are Ultisols. In these soils, a compacted layer denominated "cohesive horizon" occurs and root growth is limited by it. An experiment with five treatments and six replications was set up in order to study how liming and gypsum could improve root depth of orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) crop in an Ultisol in which a compacted layer was found at 0.3 m. Treatments were: A - No liming and no gypsum; B - Liming to achieve 60% base saturation; C - B + 1 t of gypsum ha-1 ; D - B + 2 t of gypsum ha-1 and E - B + 3 t of gypsum ha-1. Gypsum increased calcium and sulfate in the cohesive horizon. Surface application of lime and gypsum did not cause changes in soil density and total porosity in the cohesive horizon. An improvement of root length was observed at the cohesive horizon.
compacted layer; cohesive horizon; root growth
