Analysis of soil aggregate stability on the Ribeirão São Domingos watershed, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo state, under different land uses and occupations

Abstract

The soil use and its agricultural and urban management, as well as causing changes on its chemical and physical properties, affect its aggregate stability and consequently its resistance to the erosion. This paper aimed to evaluate the chemical and physical properties as well as the soil aggregate stability on the Ribeirao Sao Domingos Microbasin, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo city, in five land use systems: Sugarcane cultivation (SU), Pasture (PA), Urban land (UL), Native Forest (NF) and Soybean cultivation in rotation with winter crops (SCWC). The aggregation indexes analyzed showed, in descending order of structural quality, the following land use systems: PA, NF, SCWC, SU and UL. The main factors that have influenced the soil aggregation are its use and management, which are directly related to the vegetation cover and the organic matter supply and maintenance. The land use system SCWC presented the most appropriate chemical features because of the crop system and fertilization adopted, and the NF one presented bulk density and porosity similar to a natural system. Palavras-chave: land use; soil management; aggregate stability; chemical properties; physical properties.