Graduate Program in Soil Sciences (PPGCS/CCA/UFPB)

The Graduate Program in Soil Sciences (PPGCS in the Portuguese initials) is linked to the Department of Soils and Rural Engineering (DSER), which has solid experience in stricto sensu Graduate Programs.

The PPGCS’ Proposal is to meet the regional demands for teachers and researchers with solid and advanced scientific training, essential to solve the problems presented in the soils of agricultural and natural ecosystems as well as to act in the construction and promotion of knowledge, and in the development of science and technology in the field of Soil Sciences.

To do so, the egresses’ professional profile was broadened, covering from the scope of agricultural and livestock production, to the study of issues linked to Soil Sciences, understanding soil as essential natural resources to sustainability, both in the agricultural and natural ecosystems.

The reformulation of the General Rules for Graduate Programs of UFPB (Consepe Resolution 79/2013, amended by the Consepe Resolution 34/2014) enabled the expansion of the egresses’ professional profile, through an update of the Program’s Pedagogical Project (PPP) (Consepe Resolution 18/2016).

The PPGCS’ restructuration, jointly with the CAPES’ internationalization plan, favors the actions developed by the Graduate Programs of CCA/UFPB. Such actions are oriented to the regional reality, but with international range since the global challenges require professionals who can work in an efficient and collaborative manner in the interface of courses, and organizational and geographical boundaries that play different yet complementary roles in agricultural, environment, and public health.

Concentration area: Soils in Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems, with two lines of research: 1 – Soils and Plants’ Nutrition, and 2 – Biochemical cycles.

• The line of research: Soils and Plants’ Nutrition convers research on systems for soil preparation and crop rotation/succession, agro-ecology, and organic agriculture; impacts of the soil use and management on the soil’s physical properties; evaluation of the agricultural aptitude of the lands; environmental diagnosis and survey on the soil use; remote sensing and geoprocessing; non-agricultural uses of soil. It also approaches research on the management of soils affected by salts; evaluation of the water quality; relation between the physical property and dynamics of the water in the soil-plant-atmosphere system; strategies for prevention, mitigation, and restoration of degraded areas by actions of erosive and/or salinization processes. Evaluation of the availability of nutrients in the soil; methods for soil sampling and diagnosis of the plants’ nutritional status; evaluation of the nutritional demands of the regional-interest crops; studies on correlation and calibration; evaluation of the potential of alternative nutrient sources in agriculture (biofertilizers, ground rock fertilization, etc); quantification of the demand and offer of nutrients focusing of the organic fertilization; modeling of the recommendations of correctives and fertilizers for the crops.

• Line of research: Bio-geochemical cycles involving studies on the processes concerning the transference and cycling of elements, chemical compounds, or sediments, including water and pollutants, which may occur in profile scale of soil, toposequence, or river basin. It also evaluates the relations between carbon cycling and the sustainability of production systems, and, whenever possible, it utilizes the mathematical modeling in the studies of carbon balance in the soil-water-atmosphere’s interface. In addition, it also covers the research on the recovery of polluted or degraded soils by heavy metals and organic pollutants; and the determination of environmental quality parameters for the heavy metal content in soil.

Components in this Curriculum

Total Course Load: 1680h.           Total Credits: 112