Cácio Luiz Boechat

• PhD in Soil Science
• Associate professor at Federal University of Piauí

Plants and associated microorganisms have shown efficient uptake, sequestration and detoxification of heavy metals (HMs) and organic pollutants (OPs) and have been constantly engineered to be used in phytoremediation or biomining as a green, economical and sustainable solution in soil, water and sediments. In this chapter, we introduce the major pr...

Background The water deficit characteristic of semi-arid regions can cause negative changes in plant physiology. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can meet water needs by associating with plant roots, improving seedling quality. The physiological parameters and the quality of the seedlings of Parkia platycephala Benth. were evaluated as a result of the...

The concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) can be increased by various anthropogenic activities such as mining, fuel combustion, pesticide use, and urban development, which can alter the mechanisms determining their spatial variability in the environment. Determining natural concentrations, monitoring, and assessing potential ecological risks are ess...

Soil contamination by heavy metals (HM) from pesticides poses a serious environmental threat, affecting sustainability and agricultural productivity. Soil enzymes are essential for biochemical reactions such as organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling and are vital for maintaining soil health. However, the effects of HM on soil enzyme acti...

Although Selenium (Se) plays a role as a micronutrient for humans through vegetable consumption, it is also recognized as toxic when present in excessive quantities. Therefore, quantifying Se contents in soils can prevent diseases influenced by crop Se deficiency or excess. We aimed to measure background contents, establish quality reference values...

Mato Grosso state is the biggest maize producer in Brazil, with the predominance of cultivation concentrated in the second harvest. Due to the need to obtain more accurate and efficient data, agricultural intelligence is adapting and embracing new technologies such as the use of satellites for remote sensing and geographic information systems. In t...

The evaluation of the concentration of a potentially toxic element (PTE) in soils under native vegetation is the base study to obtain the quality reference values (QRVs), and the watershed is the strategic planning unit for decision making. The objective of this study was to determine the natural concentrations of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb...

The changes in landscapes have been followed more intensely in recent decades thanks to scientific advances, both in the field of technological improvement of satellites and in remote sensing techniques. Advanced and efficient machine learning techniques have helped remote sensing professionals to determine these changes, from the simplest to the m...

Cover crops improve the physical, chemical and biological quality of the soil and boost crop yield. However, the magnitude of the effects on the microbial activity in tropical soils of Cerrado is still little explored. This study aimed to evaluate the soil microbial attributes and soybean yield after cultivation of cover crops in a sandy clay loam...

B deficiency is one of the most limiting factors for the growth of Eucalyptus spp. in Brazil, especially in the cerrado region, where there is the greatest expansion of forest production of the species. Based on multi or hyperspectral sensors and digital image processing techniques, the application in diagnosis is fast, nondestructive and local in...

The USLE and the RUSLE are two common erosion prediction models that are used worldwide, and soil erodibility (K-factor) is one parameter used to calculate them. The objectives of this study were to investigate the variability of soil-erodibility factors under different soil-texture classes and evaluate the efficiency of diffuse reflectance spectro...

The growth of the world population has led to the expansion of agricultural areas to produce food that meets world demand, making it necessary to increase productivity and maintain environmental sustainability in these areas. Seeking sustainable food production, the agricultural use of soil must be assessed in view of optimal use or land as natural...

Brazil plays an important role in global agricultural production and environmental politics, and thus a national spectral library can bring light to new initiatives on soil monitoring. The middle infrared spectral range (MIR, 4000–600 cm⁻¹) includes the fundamental reflectance of soil organic and mineral components and thus can bring important info...

Nitrogen is the most limiting element for the development of rice. However, under irrigated rice growing conditions, there is a recurrent delay in irrigation, which increases ammonia losses. Additionally, there is a gap between the effect of urease inhibitors and the delay of irrigation, affecting agronomic efficiency and rice yields. The objective...

Establishing quality reference values (QRVs) for rare earth elements (REEs) in soils is essential for the screening of these emergent contaminants. Currently, Brazil has the second-largest reserve of REEs, but data regarding background concentrations and distributions in soils remain scarce. The aim of this study was to establish the QRVs and asses...

The Brazilian agricultural business and industry are committed to continue to increase their participation in the global biomass produc­ tion. The focus on fertilizers, not considering other soil functions, is changing to a new, more holistic paradigm. Therefore, the productivity of Brazilian agriculture can still be increased by improving and a...

Phytoremediation is a green technology that uses plants and living organisms from rhizosphere macrosystems to alleviate the harmful effects of potential toxic elements on the environment, including immobilization, stabilization, and/or extraction processes. Here, we introduce aspects related to this sustainable green approach and present new insigh...

Due to the genetic improvement of soybean cultivars more adapted to lowlands and to new drainage technologies, there has been a great insertion of soybean cultivation in rotation with irrigated rice in South America. Soybean has innumerable features beyond the fact that it is a legume, which can directly impact the microbial activity and diversity...

The association between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be used to bioremediate areas contaminated by metals. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the lead (Pb2+) phytoaccumulation capacity, morpho-physiology and nutrition responses of Vernonia polyanthes exposed to a solution amended with concentrations of lead nitrate an...

Boron (B) is an essential element whose deficiency results in rapid inhibition in the growth of plants, acting on their meristematic growth. Real-time monitoring of B fertilization in eucalyptus is helpful for guiding precision diagnosis and efficient management of plant boron nutrition. This research hypothesizes that different boron levels alter...

Applying treated industrial tannery wastewater to soil can be an important practice for its disposal and aid in the recovery of degraded soils. This study aimed to evaluate the chemical attributes of the percolate of degraded soil irrigated with treated industrial wastewater (TIW). The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse, using soil‐filled p...

Soil chemical and physical analyses are the major sources of data for agriculture. However, traditional soil analyses are time-consuming, not cost-efficient, and not environmentally friendly. An alternative to traditional soil analyses is soil spectroscopy. This technique is a low-cost and quick analytical method, which can be implemented in a labo...

Environmental impacts caused by the addition of rare earth elements (REEs) to agricultural soils are a growing concern. The sedimentary basin of the Gurguéia River is located in one of the last agricultural frontiers in Brazil; nevertheless, data regarding quality reference values (QRVs) for REEs in soils are still scarce. The objective of this stu...

The conservation tillage systems is based on the surface protection by crop residue and reduced soil disturbance. These two principles can favor the soil quality and promote sustainable agricultural systems. The study was developed with the objective of measure soil microbial biomass, soil basal respiration, enzymatic activity and soybean yield in...

The background concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTE) in soils is influenced by the parent material composition and soil forming processes. The soil natural concentration of PTE is a first step to establish regulatory levels for the monitoring of these elements in soils suspected of contamination. In the present study, we performed a nat...

The two main bottlenecks for a successful phytoremediation program are the metal availability in soil and the metal uptake and transfer to shoots of high biomass plants. Several agronomical practices have been tested to boost the bioavailability of metals in soils and accumulation in plants. Here we assessed the feasibility of plant-growth-promotin...

ABSTRACT Sugarcane is one of the first activities of economic importance in Brazil. The understanding of the nutritional dynamics at different phenological stages of the sugarcane crop with the use of nitrogen-fixing bacteria has been one of the alternatives to decrease fertilizer consumption and increasing plant production. This study aimed to ass...

The 20th century has been marked by numerous advances in science and technology that have improved the global life quality, solving problems originated by population growth. However, these advances were accompanied by uncontrolled consumption of natural resources; thus, the environment, which present limited purification capacity and resilience, be...

The continuous use of agricultural inputs for grain, fiber, and energy production in the Brazilian savannah can increase heavy metal (HM) concentrations in the soils. In this context, we aimed to determine the natural concentrations and establish the quality reference values (QRVs) of HMs in reference soils of a sedimentary watershed under native v...

The use of renewable materials as a source of nutrients, besides being a solution of interest for waste disposal, may also be an effective way to reduce the high costs of inputs needed for the production of forestry seedlings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the growth of Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell. Brenan) (angico branco) cultivated i...

Carbon and nitrogen from the soil microbial biomass play a significant role in the rotation of C and N, and promote nutrient cycling. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate changes in the soil microbial biomass with growing doses of cover plant straw species. The cover plants cultivated in the cerrado biome region were incorporated an Ox...

The cover crop straw may cause changes in the microbial activity and population, with repercussions on environmental changes and on the C and N dynamics, providing important information for the planning of adequate land use in the Cerrado. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of straw of cover crops on the soil microbial attribute...

One of the great challenges in the post-nursery phase is to plant seedlings in the field. It is, therefore, important to produce them to a high standard of quality aiming to achieve an economically feasible and environmentally sustainable process. For this purpose, the use of organic residues in the composition of substrates, associated with biotec...

Parkia platycephala Benth. (Fava-de-bolota) found in areas of Cerrado-Caatinga transition, is a species with potential for feeding ruminants in arid regions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the initial growth and nutrition of P. platycephala Benth. seedlings under water...

This study evaluated the use of wastewater from swine farming in the growth and nutritional balance of Khaya senegalensis (Desr.) A. Juss. (African mahogany) seedlings. The experiment was setup in a shade house on the Professor Cinobelina Elvas Campus of the Federal University of Piauí, in Bom Jesus, in the State of Piauí, Brazil. The experimental...

Despite the rare earth elements (REEs) being considered as emerging contaminants, their natural values and possible anthropogenic enrichments in soils have not been studied well in Brazil. The intensive use of conditioners and fertilizers in agricultural frontiers from Brazilian Cerrado can increase the concentration of REE in soils of the region....

ABSTRACT In semi-arid regions of developing countries worldwide it is necessary to develop low cost technology methods to acquire new water supplies. The objective was to evaluate the changes in the attributes of soil quality irrigated with treated sewage effluent. The treatments consisted of applying treated sewage effluent (TSE) and underground w...

Rock powder and boiler ash are residues with a high potential for the fertilization of substrates to produce forestry seedlings. They are the source of macro and micronutrients, besides having an effect on soil pH. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of the isolated application of rock power, boiler ash, dolomitic limestone and calci...

Besides being used in the wood industry, copaiba has medicinal properties. However, continuous and excessive extraction both of wood and of oil may impair the regeneration and make the product scarce. It is very important to produce quality seedlings, both for sustainable exploitation and for the recovery of degraded and disturbed areas. The purpos...

The use of cover crops is an important strategy for soil management in the Brazilian Cerrado to improve no-tillage (NT) systems. For this, it is necessary know the potential of cover crop species for biomass production, nutrient cycling, and persistence of residues on the soil surface in soils and climatic conditions of this biome. Thus, the experi...

Using the right spatial arrangement is a sustainable way to prevent or at least delay the emergence of weeds in the crop production. This study evaluated the influence of row spacing and plant density of maize on weed control based on the phytosociological survey. It was conducted on an Oxisol textured medium in a 400 m2 area under semiarid conditi...

Sweet pepper plants were grown using a Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) hydroponic system. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of using brackish water on fruit production. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design with seven treatments and five replications. The electrical conductivity of the water was 0.29, 1.39, 2.75, 4.49, 5.9...

There is a complex interaction between various components of the soil ecosystem, including microbial biomass and soil chemical contaminants such as heavy metals and radionuclides, which may greatly affect the efficiency of bioremediation techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate microbial capacity to change pH, changes in the metal solub...

Irrigation with treated wastewaters can improve nutrient levels and yield of crops planted on degraded soils. This study evaluated how irrigation with treated industrial wastewater affected biomass production and nutrition of maize plants and physio-chemical properties of a degraded soil. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using PVC colum...

The use of treated industrial effluents to irrigate plants is an alternative, because of nutrients that can increase yield of the agricultural crops. This study was conducted to determine irrigation with treated effluent and gypsum application, which changes the chemical and physical characteristics of soils and the growth and nutrition of millet (...

In recent decades, organic and/or inorganic nonconventional waste such as sewage sludge, agroindustrial or industrial waste, inorganic waste, steel slag, etc., have become some of the most promising alternatives to commercial fertilizer shortages or rising prices. Hence, the aim was to evaluate morphological changes in corn plants and variations in...

Phytoremediation consists of biological techniques for heavy metal remediation, which include exploring the genetic package of vegetable species to remove heavy metals from the environment. The goals of this study were to investigate heavy metal and bioaugmentation effects on growth and nutrient uptake by Mucuna deeringiana; to determine the metal...

Heavy metal extraction from soils is one of the functions of plants which is widely studied and applied worldwide. However, little is known to what extent medicinal plants can accumulate these metals and cause problems to human health. This study aimed to evaluate the accumulation of heavy metal/loid in plant tissues, nutritional imbalance, and the...

ABSTRACT Bioavailability of heavy metals at contaminated sites is largely controlled by the physicochemical properties of the environmental media such as dissolved organic matter, hydroxides and clay colloids, pH, soil cation exchange capacity and oxidation-reduction potential. The aim of this study was to investigate soil pH and heavy metal solubi...

In recent years, the number of cases of heavy metal contamination has increased worldwide, leading to reports on environmental pollution and human health problems. Phytoremediation can be potentially used to remove heavy metal from contaminated sites. This study determined heavy metal concentrations in the biomass of plant species growing on a mult...

Ever since the government began providing incentives for biofuel production, physic nut has appeared to be a promising plant, due to the high oil content of the seeds. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the nutrition of physic nut seedlings and changes in the chemical attributes of soil, based on the doses of domestic and industrial sewage s...

This study looks at the ability of organic wastes from different sources to efficiently promote chemical attributes and enhance nitrogen (N) concentrations in an Oxisol Ustox with a sandy texture. This experiment was performed in a randomized design using wastes from pulp mill sludge, petrochemical complex, sewage treatment plant, dairy factory sew...

In the Northeast region of the country the physic nut emerges as a promising plant for the biodiesel production, due its high oil content in seeds. This study aimed to evaluate the behavior and seedlings quality of physic nut, depending on the dose of domestic and industrialsewage sludge. The experiments were conducted in a greenhouse with five tre...

The use of organic wastes in agricultural soils is one of the possible ways to employ these materials. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of organic wastes and Fermented Bokashi Compost (FBC), to establish the most efficient use of organic wastes for a soil, changing the net nitrogen mineralization and soil chemical propertie...

In the last years, as interest in recycling and waste use has increased, many researchers have studied a wide range of potential substrates alternatives. Therefore, is possible that pulp mill sludge can be used as a substrate to seedlings production, while reducing costs. The aim was to evaluate the potential of using pulp mill sludge combined or n...

Processos microbianos têm sido utilizados como indicadores de qualidade do solo em razão da grande sensibilidade a pequenas mudanças no manejo - por exemplo, na avaliação do impacto da incorporação de resíduos orgânicos ao solo. Em experimento em delineamento inteiramente casualizado com esquema fatorial 6 x 13 + 4 (vaso sem solo e sem resíduo), fo...

Peanut is a crop of great importance for the Northeast region, as it is usually grown by small farmers, who on average, do not exceed 10 ha of cultivated area and aim to increase its profitability and diversify the production. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the relationship between nitrogen forms (ammonium and nitrate) in the initial gr...

Whereas soil is the basis for farming and forestry sustainable, it is necessary to adopt management practices that maintain and or restore fertility of the soil. The study was conducted in Concórdia do Pará city, in northern of Pará state, in an area of Oxisol (or LATOSSOLO VERMELHO distroférrico according to Brazil soil classification). The experi...

Today there is still a search for substrates economical, easy to use, available in large quantities and good characteristics for the production of seedlings, so are many substrates available. Thus, an experiment was conducted using different substrates for the production of yellow passion fruit seedlings at the University Vale do Rio Doce in Govern...

Today there is still a search for substrates economical, easy to use, available in large quantities and good characteristics for the production of seedlings, so are many substrates available. Thus, an experiment was conducted using different substrates for the production of yellow passion fruit seedlings at the University Vale do Rio Doce in Govern...