Abstract

CERON, Carmen Patricia  and  RIASCOS, Yilton. Farmers' local knowledge regarding the quality of hillside soil in Caldono, southeastern Colombia. Agron. colomb. [online]. 2005, vol.23, n.1, pp.143-153. ISSN 0120-9965.

This study was aimed at exploring the quality of Inceptisol in hilly areas by relating local soil knowledge to soil properties. This study was carried out with farmers from the Potrerillo micro-watershed, Caldono, Colombia, who identified 3 cultural categories regarding soil known as being 'angry land', 'tired land' or 'good land'. Soil samples were taken in 'angry land', 'tired land' and 'good land' having two uses: shaded coffee and woods. Experiments were repeated four times to give a total of 16 samples (0-20 cm depth). The following aspects were evaluated: colour, clay, size and aggregate stability, mineral nitrogen (N-NO₃ + N-NH₄), total carbon, organic matter, pH, available phosphorous and exchangeable cations (K, Ca, Mg, Al). Variance analysis, Duncan's test, correlation and main component analysis were used for statistically processing the data. It was found that farmers considered 'good land' to be that having better surface horizon conditions. Such 'good land' was characterised by having a high density of myriapoda, dark brown colours and a greater amount of mineral N, total C and light fraction soil organic matter. Inferior quality soil presented changes in colour, a decrease in the previous variables and aggregate deterioration

Keywords : Local soil knowledge; Inceptisols; angry soil; tired soil; good soil.

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