Influence of the pedological differentiation on the development of rubber-tree cultivation in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

The expansion of rubber-tree cultivation in nontraditional regions which presents edafoclimatological different conditions from their natural habitat has its performance damaged by the lack of technical information. In the State of Minas Gerais, the deficiency of knowledge about the inherent factors of the soil-plant relations is a serious limitation to the process of planting and exploration of rubber-trees. In this report, a soil catena under rubber-tree vegetation, situated in the Experimental Station of Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Minas Gerais in the Piranga's valley at Oratórios, was studied. The morphostructural characterization of the soils showed a strong lateral differentiation in the slope of the hill, with the Oxisols prevailing at the top, while in the lower parts, there are Podzolic soils, with the presence of B textural horizons, massive, coherent, compact and somewhat porous. Such observations were completed by field determinations in situ, through tests of soil water infiltration and resistance to penetration. The laboratory results, enclosing densities (particle density and bulk density), porosity (macro and micro) through water retention curves, as well as physical and chemical analysis, confirm the field's observations and determinations. These different results were related to the development of one clone of rubber-tree IAN 873 (total biomass, aerial and radicular) and show a close dependence among the physical characteristics of the soils and the development of the rubber-tree. A better behaviour of the rubber-trees was observed in the Oxisols, when compared to the Podzolics that present a strong mechanical restriction to roots' penetration, a global porosity reduced and a too much deficient internal drying.