Soil properties under Amazon forest and changes due to pasture installation in Rondônia, Brazil

We examined the consequences of deforestation and pasture establishment for soil chemical and physical properties and for soil organic matter content, in Rondônia, in the southwestern part of the Brazilian Amazon basin. Two chronosequences were selected. One chronosequence consisted of a forest and pasture established in 1989, 1987, 1983, 1979 and 1972. The main soil type in this area is the red yellow podzolic latosol (Kandiudult). The second chronosequence consisted of a forest site and pasture established in 1987, 1983, 1972 and 1911, and the main soil type is a red yellow podzolic soil (Paleudult, Tropudult). The first soil type is the most base-depleted soil and has a higher clay content than the second one. Despite the initial differences in clay and cations contents between the forest sites the total soil carbon content at 0–30 cm in both forest were circa 3.7 kg C m−2 . After pasture installation soil bulk density were higher in the first 0–5 cm soil layer, mainly in one chronosequence but small changes were detected in deeper soil layers. Forest conversion to pasture caused appreciable increases in soil pH and exchangeable cation content, at least until nine years after pasture installation. pH levels were greater in the first chronosequence, with highest values (6.8 to 7.6) found in 3 and 5 years old pastures respectively. In the most base-depleted soil Ca content increased from 0.07 kg m−2 in the forest site to 0.25 kg m−2 in the 5 year old pasture. After normalization by clay content total soil carbon contents to 30 cm in the 20 year old pastures were 17 to 20% higher than in the original forest sites. Calculations of carbon derived from forest (Cdf) and from pasture (Cdp) using soil δ13C values showed that Cdf decrease sharply in the first 9 years after pasture establishment in both chronosequences and reached stable values of 2.12 kg C m−2 and 2.02 kg C m−2 in chronosequences 1 and 2, respectively. Soil carbon derived from pasture increased with time and represented 50% of total soil carbon in the top 30 cm after 20 years of pasture. In general we observed that forest conversion to pasture is associated to a pattern of increasing of soil cations and pH levels for at least 5 years under pasture establishment. The removal of the original forest for pasture establishment resulted in an accumulation of carbon derived from pasture in the soil.