Abstract
Traffic of heavy machinery at harvest and log extraction causes structural degradation of the soil, but studies on the effects of forest harvesting on soils with high organic matter content and exchangeable Al are scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of mechanized forest harvesting operations on a Dystric Cambisol (Humic) with high organic matter (more 50 g kg1) content and exchangeable Al (more 6,0 cmolc kg-1), reforested with Pinus taeda L. The evaluated harvesting system were the whole-tree, in which the feller-buncher cuts and lays the trees down in bundles; the skidder drags the tree bundles up near a road; and the harvester delimbs and cuts the trees into short logs, stacking them on the roadside to be loaded onto trucks. The areas were evaluated for soil conditions at pre-harvest, prior to harvest, and at post-harvest, consisting of areas of low disturbance, high disturbance, forest residues and log yards. The effects of compaction after forest harvesting are observed by the decrease in total porosity (especially biopores and macropores), soil saturated hydraulic conductivity, and stability of aggregates. After forest harvesting, soil compaction was observed in all evaluated situations, but with different depths depending on operation type and the intensity of traffic carried in each area.
Highlights
The logging sector has, especially in the 1990s, imported large machines in the forestry sector by larger companies (Machado, 2008)
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of mechanized forest harvesting operations on a Dystric Cambisol (Humic) with high organic matter content and exchangeable Al, reforested with Pinus taeda L
After forest harvesting, soil compaction was observed in all evaluated situations, but with different depths depending on operation type and the intensity of traffic carried in each area
Summary
The logging sector has, especially in the 1990s, imported large machines in the forestry sector by larger companies (Machado, 2008). The compaction intensity and its consequences are dependent on the soil granulometry (Reichert et al, 2010), the amount of plant residue on the soil (Seixas et al, 1998; Braida et al, 2006; Silva et al, 2007a), traffic intensity and pressure applied by machine wheels on the soil (Beutler et al, 2005), organic matter content and the moisture condition at harvest (Oliveira et al, 2009; Sampietro et al, 2015). The compaction depth in forest areas may be higher than in other agricultural activities, due to the higher pressure exerted by the wheels of the machines, the greater traffic during harvest and the greater soil moisture due to the shade from the trees (Reichert et al, 2007). Soil compaction due to vehicle traffic occurs mainly during the first passage of the machines used in timber harvesting (Seixas and Souza, 2007)
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