Courses

Graduate students may take courses offered by the Department of Soils (DPS), by other UFV Departments, and by other institutions, as long as they meet the requirements established by the Program. Information about these course requirements for PPGSNP-UFV is provided at the end of this page.

Below are listed the courses specific to DPS-UFV. Other courses from other Departments and commonly taken by PPGSNP graduate students are listed below, for reference only. Other courses offered by the Institution are listed in the UFV Course List.

Courses are offered in the first or second semester, and the number of credits varies depending on the number of practical and theoretical classes. One credit at UFV represents 15 hours of class. The course code provides the main information associated with it. Thus, and using the example of the discipline SOL613, which presents the coding 5(3-2) II, it follows that it has 5 hours of classes per week (75 hours of semester workload), distributed in 3 theoretical + 2 practical classes per week, and offered in the second semester (II) of each year.

DPS course list

SOL 600 – Methods of Soil and Plant Analysis (Only in Portuguese)Theory and fundamentals of physical and chemical analyses of soils and plants. Soil analysis: sampling; chemical and physical-chemical analyses. Plant analysis. Soil, sediment, vegetable, and rock sampling; determination of total and soluble forms; interpretation of results.

SOL 613 – Earth System: Dynamics and Process (Only in Portuguese)The Earth system: components, flows and processes. Dynamic interactions between Earth’s (sub)systems. Geological record and Earth history. Minerals and rocks. Weathering and formation of secondary minerals. Geological maps and reports. General aspects of the geology of Brazil. Field trip: Iron Quadrangle and karst province.

SOL 615 – Soil Mineralogy (Only in Portuguese)

Basic concepts. Importance of soil mineralogy. Chemical crystallography. Basics of crystallography. Genesis and structure of the main soil minerals. Theoretical aspects of colloid dispersion and soil fractionation. Methods for identifying soil minerals by chemical analysis, thermal analysis and X-ray diffractometry.

SOL 626 – Soil Genesis and Classification (Only in Portuguese)

Philosophy and principles of soil genesis and classification. Soil formation factors. Basic and general processes of soil formation. Genesis and general characteristics of tropical soils. Soil classification. Brazilian pedological domains.

SOL 627 – International Systems of Soil Classification

Soil description. Diagnostic horizons, properties, and attributes. Soil classification according to Soil Taxonomy and World Reference Base for soil resources.

SOL 630 – Soil Biology

Soil Biodiversity. Soil Ecology. Soil fauna: composition, function and classification. Trophic functional groups. Generic functional groups+. Identification of macrofauna. Ecosystems and soil biota. Ecosystem processes. Contributions of fauna to soil functioning: ecosystem services (provision, regulation, support and cultural). Impacts of disturbances on soil life in natural ecosystems. Impacts of disturbances on soil life in agroecosystems.

SOL 640 – Soil Physics (Only in Portuguese)

Soil solid phase: textural fractions, colloids, granulometric analysis, soil structure, soil consistency. Soil water: water properties, soil water potential, soil water characteristic curve, soil water movement. Soil air. Soil temperature.

SOL 641 – Soil Physics Applied to Transfer Process (Only in Portuguese)

Structure and properties of water. Water storage in soil. Thermodynamic bases in the study of the soil-water system. Water movement in soil. Water balance in soil. Movement of solutes in soil. Heat transfer in soil.

SOL 645 – Forest Soils (Only in Portuguese)

Conceptualization of forest soils. Forest soils and tree nutrition in the face of environmental problems. Soils associated with forest biomes. Productivity and classification of forest sites. Dynamics of forest growth. Soil properties and forest growth. Biomass and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Mineral nutrition of forest species. Forest fertilization: nursery and field. Fertilization of forest species. Intensive forest management and maintenance of soil productivity.

SOL 646 – Land Reclamation

Characterization of degraded areas (DA). Sources of environmental degradation, mineral exploitation and the environment. Objectives of DA recovery. Degraded Area Recovery Plan (PRAD). Soil formation processes and RAD. Geomorphology and topographic reconstruction in the context of RAD. Sulfide geochemistry and acid drainage generation. Storage and return of topsoil and use of litter. Revegetation and ecological principles applied to RAD. Monitoring and evaluation of the RAD process.

SOL 647 – Research Methodology on Agroecology – Focus on Soils

Philosophy of science. Agroecology – concepts, bases and principles. Preliminary research project. Scientific writing. Agroecological indicators. Ethnopedology. Research project.

SOL 648 – Soil Use in Tropics (Only in Portuguese)

Soils and agricultural activities in the tropics, with emphasis on Brazil. Land use in the tropics in relation to climatic aspects. Reversible and irreversible land use. Land use in agriculture. Land use in relation to water quantity and quality. Land use under irrigation. Agriculture in rugged terrain. Quantitative indicators of soil quality.

SOL 648 – Soil Management in Tropics

The natural environment of the Tropics. Mineralogy of tropical soils. Physics of tropical soils. Soil acidity. Soil organic carbon in the Tropics. Soil fertility in the Tropics. Soils and slash-and-burn agriculture. Topsoil and subsoil constraints in cultivated areas. Soil management in rice cultivation. Soil management in perennial and annual crops. Tropical soils and systems based on livestock. Introduction to the subject. Soils and systems based on tropical trees. Natural reversal or non-reversal of degradation. Restoration of drastically altered soils – desertification, salinization, and natural and anthropogenic disasters.

SOL 650 – Soil Chemistry (Only in Portuguese)

Soil composition. Chemical equilibrium. Surface interaction of the solid phase with the soil solution. Adsorption and exchange of cations in soil. Adsorption of anions by soil. Common solubility equilibria in soil. Salt-affected soils.

SOL 655 – Environmental Geochemistry

The atomic nucleus and the origin of the elements. Geochemical abundance of the elements. Principles of thermodynamics applied to natural systems. Lithogeochemistry. Surface geochemistry. Chemical equilibria and interaction of the main heavy metals in the soil. Main global biogeochemical cycles. Eutrophication and contamination of water resources and soils. Heavy metals as pollutants and nutrients.

SOL 660 – Soil Organic Matter (Only in Portuguese)

Carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. Forms of carbon in soil. Processes of decomposition, mineralization, and humification of organic matter. Factors influencing the dynamics of soil organic matter. Characteristics of organic matter and the chemical, physical, and biological properties of soil. Organic matter and soil genesis. Management of organic matter in tropical soils.

SOL 670 – Soil Fertility (Only in Portuguese)

Concept of soil fertility. Clays. Ionic adsorption. Soil acidity. Correction of soil acidity. Nitrogen in the soil. Phosphorus in the soil. Potassium in the soil. Sulfur in the soil. Micronutrients in the soil. Assessment of soil fertility. Fertilization recommendation. Mixing and application of fertilizers. Soil organic matter and heavy metals.

SOL 681 – Pedometry (Only in Portuguese)

Digital mapping of soil attributes and classes. Remote sensing. Proximal sensing. Instrumentation. Geoprocessing. Machine learning. Classification algorithms.

SOL 730 – Pedogeomorphology (Only in Portuguese)

Fundamentals of geology. Biogeochemical cycles, geotectonics, Paleosols. Pedosphere: soil as an open system. Tropical soils: constituents and physical-chemical and biological processes. General and tropical geomorphology: soil form and landscape. Micromorphology and ultrastructure of soils: techniques and applications. Geography of large pedological systems.

SOL 735 – Geosystems, Landscapes, and land uses in Brazil and West Africa: convergences and scenarios

Introduction: Geosystems in Brazil and West Africa. Agriculture, Land Use and Food Production: the great plant globalization. Historical and Social connections Brazil – West Africa. A big river with interconnected margins: Brazil and West Africa.

SOL 771 – Soil Fertility Assessment (Only in Portuguese)

Soil Fertility. Available elements. Fertilization laws. Reliability of recommendations. Evaluation methods. Chemical Analysis of Soils. Theory and fundamentals. Sampling. Intensity, quantity and buffer capacity factors. Correlation and calibration methods. Soil correction. Leaf Diagnosis. Advantages and limitations. Sampling. Analysis processes. Interpretation methods. Experimental Techniques of Biological Tests. In a greenhouse. Microplots. Field experiments. Response curves and surfaces. Economic analysis. Fertilization Recommendation.

SOL 790 – Special Topics in Soil Science I

SOL 791 – Special Topics in Soil Science II

SOL 792 – Special Topics in Soil Science III

SOL 794 – Special Issues I

SOL 795 – Special Issues II

SOL 796 – Special Issues III

SOL 797 – Seminar

SOL 799 – Research

Courses under development (offered on an experimental basis)

Chemistry and Fertility of Tropical Soils I 5 (5-0)

Introduction. Basic concepts of soil chemistry and mineralogy. Plant nutrients and beneficial elements. Nutrient dynamics in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Soil acidity, liming and dynamics of Ca and Mg in the soil-plant system. Nitrogen. Phosphorus. Potassium. Sulfur. Micronutrients. Basic concepts for soil fertility evaluation and control. Fertilizers. Nutrient management in agriculture and forestry.

Introduction to R Language and Topics in Machine Learning I 5(1-4) (Only in Portuguese)

Introduction to the R language. Installation and interaction with the program, syntax and commands. Types of variables in R. Data structure and data types in R. Function and arguments. Control structures of the R language. Introduction to machine learning. Types of learning. Supervised techniques: Classification and Regression. Unsupervised techniques: PCA and Cluster. Multiple classifiers: bagging and boosting.