Phytomass and nutrient release in soybean cultivation systems under no-tillage

Abstract: The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of phytomass accumulation, soil cover, and nutrient cycling promoted by cultivation systems with annual and cover crops on the grain yield of soybean sown in succession in the Cerrado, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with nine cultivation systems and four replicates, in two crop seasons. In 2014/2015, forage grasses and legumes were evaluated, besides fallow treatments. In 2015/2016, forage and legume intercropped or not with corn or sunflower and fallow were assessed; the soybean crop was evaluated following cover crops. Phytomass, soil cover, and nutrient cycling provided by cultivation systems, as well as soybean mass and yield, were determined. Urochloa ruziziensis alone or intercropped, compared with the fallow systems, promotes significant increases in phytomass production, soil cover and nutrient cycling, with an increase in the grain yield of soybean planted in succession. N and K are the most accumulated nutrients in the aerial part of the cover crops and are released in larger quantities in the soil in the two years of evaluation. Crotalaria spectabilis promotes an increase in soybean yield in the 2015/2016 crop season, compared with U. ruziziensis, due to the synchronism between N release and uptake under no-tillage system.