Microlysimeter experiment Goiánia, Brazil

​A field experiment with 15 micro lysimeters was established at the agricultural experimental site of the "Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG)" in Goiania, Brazil (-16.596402, -49.278887), during March 2015 until June 2016. The site is located in one of Brazil’s main agricultural regions with intensive production of sugarcane, maize and soya. The experiment was part of the PURESBio project, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), starting in autumn 2014.

The site has a semi-humid climate with one rain season per year (Fig.1). Annual rainfall sums up to 1300mm whereof the main part falls between the summer months from October till April. During winter, air temperature stays above 10°C in average, whereas maximum temperatures rise up to 40°C during day time.

Three different topsoils were used for incubation (table 1). All three were typical arable soils of the Cerrado biome with different loamy textures and low to moderately high organic carbon contents. Soil reaction was acidic in all soils and the capacity to exchange cations was typically low for these old and strongly weathered soils.

Figure 1: Long-term precipitation (bars; left axis) with number of rain days per month and long- term mean temperature (line; right axis). The min and max air temperature is indicated by the grey ribbon along the temperature line plot. Long-term climate data (1975-2004), measured by the UFG meteorological station in close proximity to the micro lysimeter site. © Dennis Melzer, ZALF.

Table 1: Selected soil properties of the soils used for incubation. © Dennis Melzer, ZALF.

Picture 1: Lysimeter front view. © Dennis Melzer, ZALF.

Picture 2: Lysimeter close up view. © Dennis Melzer, ZALF.

Picture 3: Lysimeter. © Dennis Melzer, ZALF.

Picture 4: Lysimeter series with measuring device. © Dennis Melzer, ZALF.