Water Infiltration Velocity in a Yellow Red Argisol in the Farming of Sweet Corn and Sunflower

Abstract

This work was performed in an experiment that is already being done for fifteen years in the rural campus of the Federal University of Sergipe, which studies the impact of soil management changes on production and soil physical properties, the area was divided into three installments, treated with tillage, minimum tillage and conventional tillage in a succession of sweet corn and sunflower, as ground cover. The objective was to obtain the basic infiltration velocity (BIV) by double infiltrometer ring, analyze its variation in relation to the managements and the adequacy of Horton models (1940), Kostiokov (1932), Kostiokov-Lewis (1945) and Phillip (1957). As expected, the treated soil in a milder way had the best results for water infiltration rate. An excellent result was observed, the BIV reached 123 mm h -1 , and the area managed with tillage was 1.86 times higher than in conventional tillage. The model that best fit the BIV in all kinds of managements was to Horton, the BIV calculated was equal to that obtained in the field, which is easily explained by the way that the equation progresses. KEYWORDS