Abstract

The integrated crop-livestock-forest (ICLF) has been indicated as an important alternative of agricultural production, in economic and environmental terms. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the chemical properties of soil under the system on integrated crop-livestock-forest in the Santa Brígida Farm, Ipameri City, southeast of Goiás State, Brazil. It was used a completely randomized design in a 4 × 2, with four replications. The analyzed factors consisted of four land uses (SS2 = Eucalyptus sp. 2 years age + Urochloa brizantha grass, SS6 = Eucalyptus sp. 6 years age + U. brizantha grass, ILF = corn + U. brizantha grass and RF = remaining forest - control) combined with two different depths of the soil (0-20 and 20-40 cm). Data from soil analyzes were used to generate the cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) using the R program. In both depths was checked the grouping of sampled areas in three groups: One containing the ILF and SS2 areas samples of, which were the most similar to each other; a second group containing SS6 area samples; and a third group containing the remaining forest samples. A gradual variation in  organic matter, Ca + Mg, H + Al, K and pH, CEC and V% can be observed in the samples of 0-20 cm layer, where in the remaining forest area was with the highest values of these variables, follow by the areas SS6, ILF and SS2 respectively. In the layer soil 20-40 cm depth, SS6 area stood out in relation to Ca + Mg, pH, CEC and V%. It can be concluded that the ICLF is a promising production system to be deployed, especially in areas with the purpose of recovering degraded pastures.

Key words: Soil quality, agroforestry systems, sustainability, biodiversity.