Banco de sementes do solo sob três coberturas vegetais em latossolo amarelo, Amazônia Ocidental, Brasil

Abstract

Weed management is essential to increase agricultural productivity, but the intensive use of herbicides has raised environmental and health concerns. In this context, the use of plant cover offers a sustainable alternative capable of suppressing invasive plants through mechanisms such as competition for resources and allelopathy. This study aims to investigate the soil seed bank under the influence of different plant covers in the Amazon. To this end, we evaluated how three species of cover plants affect the density, diversity, and dynamics of weeds present in the soil. Soil samples were collected during the crop cycle to evaluate the seed bank and its properties. The experimental design adopted was randomized blocks with five treatments, with four replicates, of the species Brachiaria ruziziensis, Canavalia ensiformis, and Mucuna pruriens, in addition to a chemical control treatment using glyphosate and a treatment without management. The use of plant cover significantly influenced the soil seed bank, reducing weed emergence. M. pruriens and B. ruziziensis were the most efficient with the lowest weed emergence, while C. ensiformis had the lowest performance. The highest seedling emergence occurred in the surface layers 0–5 and 5–10 cm, while the deeper layers 10–15 and 15–20 cm showed low emergence due to physical and environmental limitations of the soil. The results demonstrate that plant cover is a sustainable and effective alternative to chemical control, contributing to reduced herbicide use and improved soil quality.