Soil microbial biomass under different tillage and levels of applied pig slurry

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to evaluate the changes in microbial biomass C, N and P due to the application of pig slurry under different soil tillage systems. The experiment was established in a clayey Oxisol, Eutrophic Red Latossol in Palotina, PR. Different quantities of pig slurry (0, 30, 60 and 120 m3 ha-1 year-1) were applied to the soil prior to the summer and winter crop season under conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT), in three replicates. The area was cultivated with soybean (Glycine max L.) or maize (Zea mays L.) in the summer and wheat (Triticum sativum Lam.) or oat (Avena sativa L.) in the winter. The soil samples were collected in March and October of 1998 and 1999 at depths of 0-5, 5-10 and 10-20 cm. The soil tillage and pig slurry application influenced the microbial biomass C, N and P. The microbial biomass and the microbial activity presented high sensibility to detect changes in the soil due to tillage and the application of pig slurry. The soil microbial biomass and Cmic/Corg relation increased as the quantity of applied pig slurry increased. The metabolic quotient under CT increased with depth while under NT it decreased. The soil microbial biomass was enriched in N and P under NT and as the quantity of applied pig slurry increased