ABSTRACT
Soil compaction is one of the major causes of yield losses in forage crops, especially those for the production of silage, due to heavy machinery traffic in seeding, management and harvesting operations. The soil chiseling could be an alternative to solve the problem. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the effects of mechanical chiseling on the physical attributes in a Yellow Argisoil, and agronomic characteristics of elephant grass grown, in area with intensive traffic of machines. The experiment was conducted at the Campus of Agricultural Sciences - UNIVASF in the Submedium of the São Francisco River, in randomized blocks design with four replications; consisting of three depths chiseling: ESC 0 - without chiseling, ESC 15 - chiseling 0.00 to 0.15 m and ESC 30 - chiseling 0.00 to 0.30 m. It was evaluated the physical attributes of the soil before and after chiseling scarification, and soil bulk density, porosity and penetration resistance; and agronomical components of elephant grass: plant height and biomass production. The bulk density, porosity and resistance to penetration as well as biomass production were not affected by the depth of chiseling, due to the sand soil texture. The mechanical resistance to penetration proved to be the most sensitive attribute to identify the compacting and the effect of mechanical chiseling. It was not observed change in the soil physical properties in the treatments with chiseling, chiseling in the depth of 0.00 to 0.15 m and 0.00 to 0.30 m. The chiseling depth evaluated not affect the agronomical components of the elephant grass.
Keywords:
agricultural mechanization; soil compaction; Penninsetum purpureum
