ResearchArticle
Physical Quality and Porosity Aspects of Amazon Anthropogenic
Soils under Different Management Systems
Marcelo Dayron Rodrigues Soares,
1
Zigomar Menezes de Souza ,
2
Milton C´ esar Costa Campos ,
3
Miguel Cooper ,
4
Rose Luiza Moraes Tavares ,
5
Lenon Henrique Lovera ,
2
Camila Viana Vieira Farhate ,
2
and Jos´ e Maur´ ıcio da Cunha
1
1
University of Amazonas, Institute of Education Agriculture and Environment, 69800-000 Humait´ a, Amazonas, Brazil
2
University of Campinas, School of Agricultural Engineering–Av. Cˆ andido Rondon, 501 Barão Geraldo, Campinas,
São Paulo 13083-875, Brazil
3
Federal University of Para´ ıba, Rodovia BR 079—km 12, Areia, Para´ ıba 58397-000, Brazil
4
University of São Paulo, “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science–Av. P´ adua Dias Avenue 11,
Piracicaba, São Paulo 13418-900, Brazil
5
Universidade de Rio Verde, Fazenda Fontes do Saber, Caixa Postal 104, Rio Verde, Goi´ as 75901-970, Brazil
Correspondence should be addressed to Rose Luiza Moraes Tavares; roseluiza@unirv.edu.br
Received 22 November 2021; Revised 31 January 2022; Accepted 9 March 2022; Published 13 April 2022
Academic Editor: Claudio Cocozza
Copyright © 2022 Marcelo Dayron Rodrigues Soares et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Archaeological Dark Earth (ADE) soils are rich in organic matter and highly fertile, but when used for farming or grazing
activities, they generally lose chemical and physical quality, becoming more susceptible to erosion. In this context, this study
aimed to evaluate the changes in physical properties of the soil in different management systems adopted in ADE areas of the
Amazon. e study area is located in the municipality of Novo Aripuanã, in the mesoregion of Madeira, south of the state of
Amazonas. ree ADE areas were selected: 1—native forest (Amazon forest fragment); 2—area covered with Brachiaria (Urochloa
brizantha cv. Marandu), without the addition of fertilizers or soil improvers; and 3—area covered with pigeon pea (Cajanuscajan)
and other commercial crops (corn, beans, and watermelon). e following soil characteristics were evaluated: soil resistance to
penetration, soil bulk density, macroporosity and microporosity, and total soil porosity in the 0–0.20 m and 0.20–0.40 m layers.
e results showed that the pasture area presented a smaller amount of total pores and complex pores, which are important for
water flow in the soil. e areas analyzed in this study presented no critical obstacle to plant root development with the low value
of resistance to penetration (<2.00 MPa) in all areas.
1. Introduction
e southern region of the state of Amazonas covers around
474,000 km
2
, corresponding to 30% of the total area of the
state. ese areas have a high diversity of geological ma-
terials, with different types of soils, which are usually highly
weathered, deep, acid, of poor fertility, presenting high
mineralization of organic matter [1]. However, the same
region also has soils of dark anthropic A horizon (Au),
containing ceramic and/or lithic fragments incorporated
into the matrix of the superficial soil horizons, which are
known as TerraPretade
´
Indio or Archaeological Dark Earth
(ADE) [2].
ADE soils have on average up to six times more stable
organic matter than adjacent soils and are considered a large
reservoir of organic carbon [3]. Santos et al. [4] point out
that these soils offer high natural fertility, probably due to
long-term anthropic occupation and incorporation of py-
rogenic carbon of high cation exchange capacity (CEC).
According to [5], ADE soils occur in discontinuous areas
across the Amazon and its main use by local populations is
subsistence agriculture.
Hindawi
Applied and Environmental Soil Science
Volume 2022, Article ID 6132322, 9 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/6132322