PHYSICAL QUALITY OF SOILS UNDER A CROP-LIVESTOCK-FOREST SYSTEM IN THE CERRADO/AMAZON TRANSITION REGION

ABSTRACT Integrated crop-livestock-forest (iCLF) systems have gained prominence in the past decades as an alternative of sustainable land use, particularly in regions in which there is pressure against agricultural expansion in protected ecosystems such as the Brazilian Amazon. In this context, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of one year of use of the iCLF system in the Cerrado/Amazon transition region to determine its impact on soil quality compared to other traditional land uses in the region (planted forest, crop, forage, and native forest). The results indicated that the iCLF system did not jeopardize the soil physical quality, and only the crop land use affected the soil physical attributes. The land uses with the lowest impact on the physical condition of the soil were the iCLF system and the planted forest.