Nitrate adsorption in cerrado oxisoils

This work aimed to assess the rate of nitrate adsorption and identify the soil properties that most affect it, in a Dark-Red Latosol, with 56% clay content, in Planaltina, DF, Brazil. Soil samples were collected from areas with four different management systems, at depths of 0-20, 20-40, 40-80 and 80-100 cm. Three of the areas were obtained from an on-going fve-year experiment, i.e., native grass savannah land and two areas cultivated with soybeans and maize that received different amounts of liming, sulphate and other nutrients and whose soils had inverted charges in depth. The fourth area was a woody savannah land, with negative net electric charge in depth. The relationship between nitrate adsorbed and nitrate in solution, was described by Freundlich equation, and the relationship between nitrate adsorbed and some soil physical-chemical properties was studied by multiple regression. Nitrate adsorption increased with soil depth in all treatments. Nitrate adsorption was higher in the native grass and woody savannah than in the other treatments. The Delta pH as an index of net electric charge did not affect nitrate adsorption. There was a negative correlation between nitrate adsorption, organic matter and extractable sulphate. Nitrate adsorption increased with organic matter reduction in the deep layers of the soil and with decrease in extractable sulphate.