Soil water infiltration measurements using the double ring and cornell infiltrometer in a Rhodic Hapludox

Abstract

The value of soil water infiltration is very important in several areas, such as agriculture, water resources, engineering projects. The methods to determinate the water infiltration in general is difficult and produce often unreliable results. The work aimed to evaluate the soil water infiltration rate in a Rhodic Hapludox under three management systems. The results were compared using two methods to determine the water infiltration rate. In the three management systems, the water infiltration rate in the soil was determined using the double ring infiltrometer. Using this method the results showed higher values when compared to the Cornell infiltrometer. For both methods, the native forest presented the highest soil water infiltration rate, followed by the no tillage area and perennial pasture grown. Through the double ring infiltrometer the infiltration rates obtained were 1428.2 mm h-1 (Forest), 46 mm h-1 (no tillage) and 22.6 mm h-1 (perennial pasture). Considering the Cornell infiltration method, the same areas showed infiltration rates of 300, 33.2 and 12.7 mm h-1, respectively. In the native forest the runoff process was not verified, while ingress with no tillage and perennial pasture. In these areas the runoff is started, respectively, at 3.25 and 1.33 minutes after the beginning of the tests.