Dissertations and Theses

Summary

– In tropical soils, the phenomenon of phosphorus adsorption is governed by the mineralogy of the clay fraction, which in turn is affected by the material of origin and intensity of dissection of the landscape. the objective was to relate the total phosphorus and adsorbed with the main minerals of the clay fraction of the soils of the Planalto Ocidental Paulista, associating with the geology and the degree of dissection of the landscape. Were selected fifty - five soil samples representative of the physiographic variability of the Planalto Ocidental Paulista, in the depth of 0.0 - 0.2 m, for the characterization of phosphorus forms, clay mineralogy by X - ray diffraction (XRD) and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS); it was also used chemometric calibration Through the partial least squares regression (PLSR). It was verified that the total P and adsorbed P are influenced by the geology and degree of dissection of the landscape, and are covariate of the Fe and Al oxides, and these oxides are important indicators of environments with higher and lower adsorption potentials and with low and high levels of P. The characterization of the spectral curves allows to differentiate the total P content based on the mineralogy of the clay fraction. Partial least squares regression analysis (PLSR) of the spectral data shows the influence of iron oxides on the total and adsorbed P content, with Hm at the total P and Gt at the adsorbed P.