Soil chemical and physical attributes in an area with single maize and intercropped with Panicum maximum.

In the Cerrado Biom, a commonly used intercropping is between corn species and Urochloa, however, there are alternative grasses able to improve the corn intercropping, such as those of genus Panicum. Studies show that diversified crop rotation improves the efficiency of the agricultural system. Thus, it was aimed to evaluate the effect of the corn (Zea mays) and Zuri grass (Panicum maximum BRS Zuri) grown in the monoculture or intercropped under conditions with and without soil scarification in chemical and physical soil attributes. For this, an area under Red Oxisoil was used, in which part was scarified up to 30 cm deep and the other was not. In February 2020, corn and Zuri grass were planted in cultivar sole system or intercropped between the two species in compacted and scarified area, creating six evaluation areas. After the crop cycle, with corn harvest and Zuri grass crushing, soil sampling was carried out for evaluations at five points in each area. Corn in monoculture had lower soil moisture and greater resistance to penetration. And the soil without scarification had a higher C stock. The results showed that the Zuri grass using after soil revolving can be applied as a management strategy, looking to dry mass accumulation, bigger carbon stock and soil porosity, improving soil conditions for the summer crop. Besides that, the intercropped used improves the chemical soil conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]