Water infiltration capacity under different land uses and agricultural management practices

Abstract

Knowledge of physical and hydraulic properties of soil is important for the appropriate use and management of soil, and for the understanding of dynamic movement process of water and solutes. This study aims to determine the soil infiltration capacity of the Concordia Experimental Basin, located in the municipality of Lontras in Santa Catarina state. The infiltration tests were performed with the concentric ring infiltrometer, with a diameter of 25 and 50 cm on twenty sampling points showing different uses of land and agricultural management practices. The initial capacity of infiltration, calculated by Horton's equation, ranged from 0.8 (pasture) to 5.0 cm min-1 (pine forest and cassava planting). In pasture areas, the initial infiltration ranged from 0.8 to 0.9 cm min-1. Regarding the minimum value, they ranged from 0.01 (perennial pasture) to 0.3 cm min-1 (minimum tillage for corn). In forest areas, the minimum infiltration varied between 0.05 and 0.15 cm min-1 and in the areas of pasture, it was equal to 0.01 cm min-1.