Abstract

IMHOFF, Silvia; IMVINKELRIED, Horacio; TORMENA, Cássio  and  DA SILVA, Alvaro Pires. Field visual analysis of soil structural quality in argiudolls under different managements. Cienc. suelo [online]. 2009, vol.27, n.2, pp.247-253. ISSN 1850-2067.

The Field Visual Analysis of soil structure (Fva) allows obtaining a semi-quantitative indicator of the soil structural quality. It is simple to be determined, effective and inexpensive. In this study we applied the Fva method and verified its suitability to identify different soil qualities compared to conventional soil indicators. The analysis was carried out in an Argiudoll under a continuous cropping no-till system and under a crop-pasture rotation conventional tillage system. The plots were cropped with wheat and Lucerne at the sampling times. The Fva was performed on ten undisturbed samples from each management system, which were taken with a flat shovel. Soil resistance to penetration (SR) and volumetric water content (θ) were simultaneously measured. Fva and RP were corrected by the covariable q. The resulting data indicated top-soil structural quality to be significantly better under the crop-pasture rotation than under continuous cropping system. These differences were caused by the presence of layers with different structural types, thicknesses and root characteristics. The Fva method was useful to rapidly evaluate the top-soil structural quality.

Keywords : Field visual analysis; Soil resistance to penetration; Soil physical quality.

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