Spatial variability of humic substances in a latosol under coffee cultivation in the cerrado of minas gerais

Coffee growing in Brazil is an important agribusiness specialty, as it is one of the crops that moves the country's economy the most, being responsible for about one third of the world coffee production. Organic matter is an indispensable attribute for high yields and, associated with precision agriculture, it becomes a tool with high accuracy for identifying areas with different organic matter contents. The objective of the study was to analyze the spatial variability of organic matter fractions in a clayey red latosol. Soil sampling was carried out in a regular grid with 112 points in a 14-hectare area, cultivated with Coffea arabica L, for the quantification of carbon contents. A geostatistical study was carried out, aiming to characterize the probabilistic distribution and verify the variability of the data. It was found that the area under study showed moderate spatial dependence for the organic matter compartments. Thus, the management employed can alter the organic matter content in the soil, and the use of geostatistics together with the maps generated can be useful to help the producer in making decisions related to soil management in areas with coffee plantations.