The aim of this report is to assemb

The aim of this report is to assemble and synthesize the available information, focusing on SOC stocks, under no-tillage (NT) systems as a management practice that potentially contributes to the enhancement of soil quality management in Brazil. Just as the conversion of undisturbed land to annual cropping under conventional tillage (CT) system can disturb established equilibrium and decrease SOC content,adoption of sustainable management practices (e.g., NT system, forages and legumes in rotation, use of fertilizer and manures) can shift the equilibrium SOC content upward by eliminating or minimizing the degrading processes.
The growing concern of agricultural sustainability expressed during the last two decades of the twentieth century is being carried into the twenty-irst century because of the limited arable land resources, rapidly increasing world population especially in developing countries of the tropics and subtropics, conversion of agricultural land to other uses, and persistence of hunger and malnutrition in several regions of the world (Lal et al., 1998).