The present work had as objective to compare the efficiency of no-tillage and conventional tillage as well as the residual effects of cattle and poultry manures used in these management systems with reference to soil moisture and cotton yield in a Fluvisol. The experiment was conducted at the UFC Experimental Farm in Pentecoste, in the State of Ceará, Brazil. The treatments tested were: cotton cultivated in no-tillage system using 50 and 100 t ha-1 of cattle manure (EBPD and 2EBPD) and 14.3 t ha-1 of poultry manure (EGPD); cotton cultivated in conventional system, with the same doses of cattle manure (EBPC and 2EBPC) and poultry manure (EGPC) adopted in the no-tillage. The height of plant, number of bolls per plant, dry matter of the aerial parts, weight of cotton per plant, number of seeds per plant, weight of seeds and content of soil water were evaluated. The no-tillage management system surpassed the conventional tillage in cotton yield and improved soil water conservation and its use by plants. In both management systems the poultry manure was responsible for the higher increases in all the analyzed cotton variables.
management systems; cattle manure; poultry manure
