Assessing soil compaction in sites subjected to different management systems

Soil physical, chemical and biological quality is under constant change in rural areas, mainly in small farms where family farming prevails. Land use in these properties is maximized to ensure profitability. The aim of the current study is to investigate how different land-use types affect soil compaction in a small farm in Southeastern Paraná State. The herein investigated land-use types comprised forest, pasture, yerba mate cultivation, eucalyptus reforestation, no-till and conventional tillage. Soil density, resistance, porosity and moisture were the analyzed variables. The current findings enabled concluding that pressure deriving from different land uses affected soil compaction. Pasture recorded the highest soil compaction indices, whereas forest recorded the best indices for this variable. On the other hand, different soil management practices did not significantly affect soil density and porosity in agriculture. However, there were significant variations in soil moisture and resistance.