EFFECT OF TRAFFIC IN AGRICULTURAL SOIL WATER INFILTRATION AND THE PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF THE SOIL

Modifications caused by human activities such as machine traffic directly affect water infiltration into the soil. The objective of this work was to evaluate the water infiltration in the soil profile submitted to different intensities of agricultural traffic. The experiment was carried out at the Lageado Farm at UNESP/FCA, Botucatu/SP, in two soil classes, Dystroferric Red Nitosol (NVd) and Dystroferric Red Oxisol (LVd). The experimental design was completely randomized, with the respective compaction treatments: T0 = 0; T1 = 1; T2 = 2; T3 = 3; T4=5 and T5 = 10 consecutive passes of an agricultural tractor. The following attributes were determined: soil water infiltration, porosity, and available soil water. It was found that the basic soil infiltration speed was low for both soils in all treatments that had traffic. For both classes of soil there was a reduction in macro porosity and no interference in microporosity. The water content available to plants in clayey soil had greater variation than in medium textured soil. There is an effect of soil compaction on the water depth dynamics in the soil profile.