Effect of soil management in the infiltration in a compacted Red Ferrolithic Soil

Abstract

Any action on the soil that decreases the infiltration rate restricts the entry of water into the soil, and thereby decreases the benefit of rain or irrigation as a water supplier for the plants. In this work was studied the effect of intensive soil farming with plow and disc harrow without deep ripping (PT) and with deep ripping (PTS), conservation agriculture (AC), pasture areas (AP) and forested area (AB) on soil infiltration, in a Red Ferrolithic soil, in areas of the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute’s Experimental Station. The infiltration was determined by the double ring method and at the time of the test were determined the soil moisture and resistance to penetration. With the exception of the AC site in which the average humidity of the profile was 80 % of the field capacity, the rest had values close to 60 %, so it can be considered that the soil was very dry. Soil compaction was related inversely with the soil moisture content (R2 = 0.89), the highest value of basic infiltration (ib) corresponded to the PTS site, that reached a value of 0.51 cm•hour-1, The rest of the sites were grouped in two categories, one with an average of 0.24 cm•min-1 (AP, PT and AB sites) and others with an average of 0.33 cm•min-1 (AC and PTS sites). The results obtained for the AC and AB sites confirm the good infiltration characteristics in soils with zero or minimum tillag.