Características químicas do solo e desempenho de culturas após quatro anos de aplicações de cama de aviário em diferentes épocas e níveis

Due to the high supply and its attractive cost, the poultry litter has been used in the southwestern region of Parana to the improvement of soil fertility seeking greater production of grains and pastures. However, the use without technical knowledge can minimize the benefits of poultry litter or even cause undesirable effects on soil, environmental pollution and also productivity losses in the used crops. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different times of poultry litter application, predating the winter crop, associated with increasing levels, about soil chemical properties, release of nutrients and crop performances in four consecutive years (2011-2014). In the first three years the experimental design was randomized blocks with a split plot system and four replications. In the main plots were tested four poultry litter application times preceding the wheat production: 0, 15, 30 and 45 days before sowing (DAS); in the subplots were applied four poultry litter levels (wet basis): 0, 4, 8 and 12 Mg ha-1. Last year one more subdivision of plots was done, evaluating the use or not of nitrogen in coverage in wheat, at a dose of 100 kg N ha-1. The wheat cultivar used in the four years was the BRS 220. In three years it was evaluated the residual effect on soybean production (cultivar - BMX Turbo RR) and in one year on the beans. The chemical soil attributes were evaluated at four depths 0-2,5cm, 2,5-5cm, 5-10cm and 10-20cm, and also the rate of decomposition and nutrient release of poultry litter and the crop productivity. The different times of application concerning the poultry litter had little influence on the studied variables, demonstrating that the producer does not need to have a specific date (before planting) to the application of poultry litter. Potassium was fully released 60 days after the allocation of litter bags into the field; for nitrogen and phosphorus the release was slower. The use of increasing levels of poultry litter increased the levels of various soil elements, highlighting the potassium which reached 20 cm deep in the second year of evaluation. The increase in pH and in the base saturation occurred only in the upper layers, while the phosphorus reached 10 cm deep in the third year of the study. It was observed increased pH and base saturation. The use of increasing doses of poultry litter contributed to the wheat plant nutrition, significantly increasing the weight of a thousand grains, and the grain yield of wheat in all the evaluated years; the nitrogen fertilization in coverage also had significant effect for the fourth evaluated year. Also there was a significant response from the residual effect of poultry litter for crops planted in summer for both soybeans and beans.