REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA E CIÊNCIAS DA TERRA ISSN 1519-5228 Volume 25 - Número 1 - 1º Semestre 2025

1. REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA E CIÊNCIAS DA TERRA ISSN 1519-5228
Volume 25 - Número 1 - 1º Semestre 2025
ASSESSMENT OF SOIL STRUCTURAL QUALITY BY THE RAPID SOIL STRUCTURE
DIAGNOSTIC METHOD UNDER DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL LAND-USE SYSTEMS
Jhuliendri Bortoluzzi Genova1
; Jeani Moreira de Oliveira Sandin1
; Isabelle Genova2
; Max Sander Souto3
ABSTRACT
The present study aimed to assess the effect of different agricultural land-use systems on the
degradation and conservation of areas in the city of São Miguel do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil. The quick
diagnosis of soil structure method (DRES) was adopted for visual assessment of the soil structural
quality. A total of five agricultural land-use systems were attributed as treatments: 1) permanent
preservation area (PPA), 2) pastureland (PAST), 3) no-tillage system (NTS), 4) minimum tillage
system (MTS) and 5) conventional tillage system (CTS), assigned in an entirely randomized
experimental design, with four replications per treatment. In each replicate, five DRES samples were
taken. The NTS treatment presented (P=0.002) the best soil structural quality indexes compared to
PAST areas, MTS, and CTS; however, the PPA did not differ from NTS and PAST areas, as well as
the PAST areas were similar to the MTS areas; in addition, the CTS treatment differed from the other
treatments. Based on the assessment criteria, the best agricultural land-use systems that aims at the
conservation and preservation of its structure is NTS, because it works with crop rotation and different
root systems, favoring the formation of stable aggregates.
Keywords: Aggregates, DRES, Pastureland, Permanent preservation area, Root system, Tillage
system.
AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE ESTRUTURAL PELO MÉTODO DE DIAGNÓSTICO
RÁPIDO SOB DIFERENTES SISTEMAS AGRÍCOLAS DE USO DO SOLO
RESUMO
O presente estudo objetivou avaliar o efeito de diferentes sistemas agrícolas de uso da terra sobre a
degradação e a conservação de áreas na cidade de São Miguel do Iguaçu, PR, Brasil. O método de
diagnóstico rápido da estrutura do solo (DRES) foi adotado para a avaliação visual da qualidade
estrutural do solo. Um total de cinco sistemas agrícolas de uso da terra foram atribuídos como
tratamentos: 1) área de preservação permanente (APP), 2) pastagem (PAST), 3) sistema de plantio
direto (SPD), 4) sistema de cultivo mínimo do solo (SCM) e 5) sistema de preparo convencional do
solo (SPC), distribuídos em um delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado, com quatro
repetições por tratamento. Em cada réplica, foram coletadas cinco amostras de DRES. O tratamento
NTS apresentou (P=0,002) os melhores índices de qualidade estrutural do solo em comparação com
as áreas PAST, SCM e SPC; entretanto, o APP não diferiu das áreas SPD e PAST, assim como as
áreas de PAST foram semelhantes às áreas SCM; além disso, o tratamento SPC diferiu dos demais.
Com base nos critérios de avaliação, o melhor sistema de uso da terra agrícola que visa à conservação
e à preservação de sua estrutura é o SPD, pois trabalha com rotação de culturas e diferentes sistemas
radiculares, favorecendo a formação de agregados estáveis.
Palavras-chave: Agregados, DRES, Pastagem, Área de preservação permanente, Sistema radicular,
Sistema de preparo do solo.
01

2. INTRODUCTION
Unrestricted use of agricultural
machinery and little knowledge of conservation
and preservation techniques degrade soil
structures (Navarro et al., 2021). In addition, the
poor soil management by producers negatively
affects the farming system and promotes the
increase of compacted soil layers (Valente et al.,
2019). Consequently, this promotes soil and
water loss through runoff and erosion process
(De Sousa and De Paula, 2019).
The physical degradation of the soil due
to changes in its structure interferes with the
distribution of macro-and microporosity,
compromising the dynamics and availability of
water for plants (Da Silva et al., 2021). In this
sense, keeping rainwater stored in agricultural
areas is an increasingly important process
because droughts occur more frequently. This
causes concern among producers due to the low
utilization of water, which reflects in lower
productive yield (Silva et al., 2018).
Understanding how agricultural land-use
systems act on the spatial arrangement of
aggregates helps in decision making, improving
the productive system (Stefanoski et al., 2013).
In this sense, techniques of easy applicability for
use in the field are available to producers, such
as the DRES that is assessed in the first 25 cm of
depth to observe the structure of the surface layer
of the soil; this method assists in improving the
quality of soil management in agricultural areas
and identifies the most appropriate management
aiming soil and water conservation in different
agricultural practices (Ralisch et al., 2017).
The PPA indicate physical and structural
quality of the soil at the place (Eugenio et al.,
2011), differing from areas of PAST, which
present greater compaction due to the flow of
animals (Dias-Filho, 2006). Within agricultural
land-use systems, NTS is a technique that
proposes minimal turning over only in the
planting line (Martins and Dos Santos, 2017) and
promotes greater contribution of organic matter
(Assis and Lanças, 2005). Similarly, MTS is a
conservationist soil management, with low
erosion rates (Gabriel Filho et al., 2000). In
contrast, CTS promotes excessive soil turning
over, damaging its physical structure, besides
favoring severe erosion occurrences (Bertol et
al., 2001).
Here, a study was conducted based on the
hypothesis that areas preserved from anthropic
action present a more developed structure
compared to agricultural land-use systems.
Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the
effect of different agricultural land-use systems
on the degradation and conservation of areas in
the city of São Miguel do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area
The study was conducted in different
rural areas classified by Brazilian System of Soil
Classification (Santos et al., 2018) as Dystrophic
Red Latosol belonging to the city of São Miguel
do Iguaçu (latitude -25.3472, longitude: -
54.2349; 25°20'50 "S, 54°14'6'W; altitude 323
m), located in the far west of the state of PR,
Brazil. According to the Köppen (1948)
classification, the region's climate is humid
subtropical.
Period, treatments and experimental design
The experiment was conducted from
September 2021 to February 2022, after the end
of the 'safrinha' corn crop and before planting the
soybean crop in NTS, MTS and CTS areas. In the
PPA and PAST areas, the study was conducted
from March to April/2022.
A total of five agricultural land-use
systems were assigned as treatments: PPA, PAST,
NTS, MTS, and CTS, assigned in an entirely
randomized experimental design with 4
replications per treatment. Each farm represented
one replication and in each replication 5 DRES
sample collections were performed.
Characterization of the assessed areas
The study areas were selected according
to the agricultural land-use systems. The PPA
areas (Figure 1A) were located near the Itaipu
Lake, PR, Brazil. All areas of PAST (Figure 1B)
were formed of native pasture. In the NTS areas
(Figure 1C), two were implemented less than 5
years ago, one was 5 to 10 years old, and the
other was managed for more than a decade,
following crop rotation of soybean/maize/oats,
soybean/corn/fodder radish and
soybean/corn/wheat, respectively. In the MTS
areas (Figure 1D), all farms assessed used
soybean/corn crop succession and a fallow
period. The CTS areas (Figure 1E) were turned

3. over less than 5 months prior to the study and had
a crop succession of corn/tobacco, corn/cassava
and soybean/corn.
Figure 1. Assessment of samples collected in different
treatments. (A): permanent preservation area, (B):
pastureland, (C): no-tillage system, (D): minimum tillage
system, and (E): conventional tillage system.
Sampling, procedures, and analytical
preparation
The selection of areas for DRES
assessment started following the guidelines
described in the methodology proposed by
Ralisch et al. (2017), such as: homogeneous
areas, places without excess organic matter and
fertilizers, and avoiding the line of traffic of
agricultural machinery.
After determining each sampling place,
surface cleaning was performed to remove leaves
and vegetable residues. At no time was the
removal of plants present on the surface
performed because this practice would
compromise the physical integrity of the sample.
With the help of a pickaxe, trenches of
approximately 40 cm long, 30 cm wide, and 30
cm deep were opened. The collection of a soil
slice was done with a spade keeping the
dimensions of 20 cm wide, 10 cm thick, and 25
cm deep. Then, this soil sample was placed in a
plastic tray.
After collecting the sample, the handling
of the aggregates was started. The fragmentation
of the sample was done carefully, without
applying strength in order not to cause any
rupture. The aggregates were manipulated lightly
in different directions, identifying their natural
weaknesses. After the sample was fragmented
and organized in layers, the scores were assigned
following the criteria established by Ralisch et al.
(2017).
Calculation and statistical procedures
After assigning scores for each of the
sample layers, the sample's soil structural quality
index (SSSQI) was calculated (Equation 1).
SSSQI=
(EL1
x QeL1) + (EL2 x QeL2)
Etotal
(1),
in which: EL is the thickness of each layer, Qe is
the layer structural quality score, Etotal is the total
thickness of the sample.
Based on the SSSQI value, the soil
structural quality index (SSQI) of the assessed
area was calculated (Equation 2).
SSQI =
(SSSQI1+ SSSQI2+ SSSQI3+ SSSQI4+ SSSQI5)
n
(2),
in which: n is the total number of samples, SSQI
is structural quality score attributed to each of the
samples.
The data obtained were submitted to
variance analysis and when significant (P<0.05),
comparisons between treatment averages were
analyzed by Tukey's post hoc test. All data were
analyzed using the statistical analysis program
SAS University Edition (SAS Inst. Inc., Cary,
NC, USA).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results indicated an effect (P=0.002)
of treatment on soil structural quality, in which
the NTS treatment presented the best soil
structural quality index compared to PAST, MTS
and CTS areas; however, the PPA did not differ
from NTS and PAST areas, as well as the PAST
areas were similar to MTS areas. In addition, the
CTS treatment showed lower structural quality
than the other treatments (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Effects of different agricultural land-use systems
on the soil structural quality index (SSQI). Permanent

4. preservation area (PPA), pastureland (PAST), no-tillage
system (NTS), minimum tillage system (MTS), and
conventional tillage system (CTS); P-value: probability;
SEM: pooled standard error of the mean.
In the present study, the results indicated
that NTS improved the structural quality of the
soil, corroborating the results reported by Soriani
et al. (2018), who observed good structural
quality in Dystrophic Red Latosol in NTS areas
in the city of Londrina, PR. This is explained by
the fact that the cover crops used in NTS promote
better soil aggregation (Debiasi et al., 2008).
Martins and Silva (2022) found results in
PPA analogous to our study. The good structural
quality of the soil in PPA is attributed by the
presence of lumpy aggregates and to a high
concentration of biological activity.
Consequently, these areas have their natural
structure unaltered because they have no
agricultural use and no anthropic modifications
(Eugenio et al., 2011; Nicodemo et al., 2018).
Also, according to Iori et al. (2012), PPA soils
have a natural balance within the system that
characterizes a better structure.
In this study, the assessed PAST areas did
not differ from the PPA and MTS. However,
Soriani et al. (2018) explained that grasses
promote the increment of phytomass and roots to
the soil, benefiting the physical structure. In
addition, in areas of PAST it is common to
observe the presence of biological activity, due to
the organic material present on the soil surface
being available for decomposition (Gomes et al.,
2018).
The results evidenced in a study
conducted by Gabriel Filho et al. (2000) are in
agreement with those obtained in the present
study, when they compared the MTS vs CTS in a
Dystrophic Red Latosol in the city of Marechal
Cândido Rondon, PR. The aforementioned
authors explained that the action of the root
system of crops in MTS provides the
improvement of soil structure, while in CTS the
excessive use of implements for soil preparation
causes accentuated compaction, degradation, and
low physical quality (Soriani et al., 2018).
When analyzed together, poor soil
structural quality causes decreased porosity and
promotes increased incidence of soil and water
loss through erosion and runoff, respectively.
These factors reduce agricultural productivity
(Soriani et al., 2018), due to the direct influence
on root system growth and development
(Bertollo and Levien, 2019), compromising
infiltration rates and reducing soil water content
(Garcia and Rolosem, 2010).
CONCLUSION
Based on the criteria assessed in this
study, the best agricultural land-use systems
aiming at the conservation and preservation of its
structure is the no-tillage system, because it
works with crop rotation and different root
systems, favoring the formation of stable
aggregates.
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______________________________________
1- Pós-graduandas do Departamento de Solos,
Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG
36570-900, Brazil
2- Graduanda do Departamento de Engenharia
Florestal, Universidade Estadual do Mato Grosso
do Sul, Aquidauana, MS 79200-000, Brazil
3- Professor do Departamento de Engenharia
Agronômica, Faculdade UNIGUAÇU, São
Miguel do Iguaçu, PR 85877-000, Brazil
Correspondence author:
jhuliendri.bortoluzzi@ufv.br
06