Atributos físico-hídricos do solo após colheita mecanizada de cana-de-açúcar

Abstract

The effects of mechanization in the culture of sugarcane have brought benefits to the harvest as a reduction of time and costs. However, if the soil is unsuitable with moisture levels, traffic equipment can result in compaction, hence for its degradation. Compaction is a major cause of degradation of agricultural land, it has been evaluated using indicators of soil structural quality for plant growth such as least limiting water range (LLWR) and the soil load support capacity (LSC). The objective was to evaluate the effect of soil moisture after harvest, on physical-hidric attributes of an distroferric Red Latossol (Oxisol) cultivated with sugarcane. The study was conducted in the area of Dallas farm in the municipality of Ponta Porã - MS in the agricultural year of 2013/14. The experimental arrangement was randomized block design (4x2), four moisture and two depths, with four repeats. The moisture were defined based on the plastic-limit to the maximum moisture that defined the operational capacity of the soil, the following moisture being used: T1 moisture in the plastic limit to 0.16 g g-1; T2 0.19 g g-1 moisture; T3 0.21 g g-1 moisture and T4 in operating capacity limit containing 0.24 g g-1 moisture. The depths previously defined in trials for detection limits were centered at 5 and 15 cm. Increased soil moisture at harvest reduces the hydro-physical soil quality, determined by the IHO. Soil moisture promotes low load support capacity of soil depths of 5 and 15 cm during mechanical harvesting. The soils with low moisture content has preserved its structural quality even with mechanical harvesting, the distroferric Red Latossols (Oxisol) tend to have lower load bearing capacity with higher soil moisture content.