Resumo

CORTES-DELGADILLO, Diego Leonardo et al. Nutritional quality index in soils cultivated with cocoa in the Colombian Nariño mountain subregion. Siembra [online]. 2024, vol.11, n.1, e6027. ISSN 2477-8850.  https://doi.org/10.29166/siembra.v11i1.6027.

Soil quality is used to determine whether a production system is sustainable. The objective of this study is to estimate a soil nutrient quality index (NQI) for cocoa by standardizing variables, developing scoring functions, and assigning relative weights. Macronutrients and micronutrients, acidity (pH), organic matter content (%OM) and aluminum saturation (%Al.S) were standardized. The NQI were analyzed according to the soil cartographic units (SCU) and sampling site locations. Computer-assisted machine learning algorithms were used for the calibration of a spatial prediction model of the NQIs. It was found that 70.6 % of the sites were classified with a medium (value of) NQI (0.4-0.7), 23.8 % were low, and 5.6 % were high. The SCU with the highest NQI also had the best water retention, limited effective depth and were located on steep slopes; those with the lower NQI were affected by deficiencies in OM and macronutrient content, but those sites were found in more accessible areas. The spatial distribution map of the NQI was obtained, providing a detailed visual representation of the areas with higher and lower nutritional suitability for cocoa cultivation. The NQI allows to understand the nutritional supply of the soil in the Cordillera subregion of Nariño, but integrating additional factors such as soil depth, relief, and water availability would improve the monitoring and enable a more effective management of cocoa crops in line with environmental sustainability principles.

Palavras-chave : Theobroma cacao L.; soil quality; soil management; soil sustainability.

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