Soil Breaking Mechanisms Increase Phosphorus, Potassium, and Water Use Efficiency of Soybeans Under Dry Season in Paddy Fields in Southern Brazil
摘要
In the last 20 years, there has been a significant expansion of soybean cultivation in southern Brazil. A significant amount of this area (~ 500,000 ha) has been cultivated in lowlands in rotation with rice. This rotation allows for the reduction of weeds and higher nitrogen availability. However, rice cultivation by flooding causes numerous physical changes on the soil, thus imposing limitations on the development of rainfed crops. In addition to these limitations, soils in the subtropical regions of southern Brazil have low levels of phosphorus and potassium. This study aimed to assess the soybean’s response to different soil-breaking mechanisms in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 crop seasons: factor 1 (consisting of subsoiler, scarifier, and harrow) and factor 2 (consisting of phosphorus or potassium doses of 0, 60, 120, and 180 kg ha−1 of P2O5 or K2O). In the second cropping season under water restriction conditions, the scarifier and the subsoiler increased the soybean grain yield by 46% and 28%, respectively. In the same cropping season, an average increase in the efficiency of phosphorus (+ 62%), potassium (+ 20%), and water use (+ 47%) was observed with scarifier and subsoiler in comparison to harrow management. The breaking mechanism did not influence grain yield in soybean under adequate rainfall volume and distribution. The response of soybean in terms of grain yield to phosphorus was higher than that of potassium in Entisol in the average of the two cropping seasons. Thus, the use of breakdown mechanisms, especially in cropping seasons with restricted rainfall, increases the efficiency of phosphorus and potassium use by soybean in lowlands.