Hidrogramas e sedimentogramas associados à erosão hídrica em solo cultivado com diferentes sequências culturais, com diferentes condições físicas na superfície

Abstract

Vermelho distrófico típico com textura franco-argiloarenosa na camada superficial e declividade média de 0,115 m m-1. No início da pesquisa esse solo encontrava-se bastante degradado. As chuvas simuladas (seis no total, sendo uma para cada teste de erosão) foram aplicadas com o aparelho simulador de braços rotativos, todas elas na intensidade planejada de 64 mm h-1 (neste trabalho usaram-se as intensidades observadas das chuvas, as quais variaram de 59,1 a 74,6 mm h-1) e com duração variando de 1 a 3 h (devido almejar-se atingir a condição de equilíbrio da enxurrada em todos os testes de erosão). Observou-se que os hidrogramas e sedimentogramas, de modo geral, resultaram coerentes com as condições das quais foram desenvolvidos. Assim, na maior parte das vezes, os hidrogramas diferenciaram-se mais entre os testes de erosão do que entre os tratamentos de sequência cultural, e o inverso ocorreu com os sedimentogramas. As superfícies de solo não mobilizadas e com pequena rugosidade e pouca cobertura, de modo geral, proporcionaram hidrogramas e sedimentogramas com menor tempo de partida e maior magnitude, independentemente da presença ou ausência de crosta e do tipo de sequência cultural. As superfícies de solo recém-mobilizadas e com média e grande rugosidade, de modo geral, proporcionaram hidrogramas e sedimentogramas com maior tempo de partida e menor magnitude, praticamente independentemente da cobertura e do tipo de sequência cultural. As superfícies de solo com completa cobertura tiveram suas enxurradas diminuídas e suas erosões eliminadas, independentemente da sua mobilização e do tipo de sequência cultural. A sequência cultural com teosinto proporcionou hidrogramas e sedimentogramas com os maiores tempos de partida e as menores magnitudes, seguida das com milho+feijão-miúdo e milheto, as quais diferenciaram pouco entre si. As repetições dos tratamentos proveram valores das taxas instantâneas de descarga da enxurrada que se pareceram mais e se distribuíram no tempo de modo mais uniforme do que os providos para as correspondentes concentrações instantâneas de sedimento e taxas instantâneas de perda de solo. Os dados obtidos foram valiosos no que diz respeito a poder entender melhor a variação comumente observada nos resultados de pesquisas de erosão hídrica realizadas em campo.

Detailed studies on hydrology and sediment production are of great value to enhance the understanding and control of the water erosion process, with a view to more continuous and effective soil and water conservation practices. The purpose of this study was to develop specific (for each treatment replication) hydrograms (instantaneous runoff discharge versus time) and sedimentograms (instantaneous sediment concentrations in the runoff and instantaneous soil loss rates versus time), associated with water erosion in a soil under different crop sequences (winter and summer grass and legume species in no-till, mono and intercropped), with different physical conditions on the surface (untilled, recently-chiseled, previously-chiseled, and recentlydisked soil, in addition to the presence and absence of crust and of full, little, and no cover by crop residues). The study was conducted in the field, at an experimental station of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (EEA/UFRGS), in Eldorado do Sul (RS), Brazil, under simulated rain on an Ultisol with a sandy clay loam texture in the surface layer and 0.115 m m-1 average slope steepness. In the beginning of the study the soil had a high degradation degree. The rains (six in total, one for each erosion test) were applied with a rotating-boom rainfall simulator, at the designed rainfall intensity of 64.0 mm h-1 (in this study the observed rainfall intensities were used, ranging from 59.1 mm h-1 to 74.6 mm h-1) and duration ranging from 1 to 3 hours (determined to reach the runoff equilibrium condition in all erosion tests). It was observed that the hydrograms and sedimentograms were generally coherent with the conditions under which they were developed. Therefore, in most erosion tests the hydrograms differed more from one another than in the crop sequence treatments, opposite to the sedimentograms. The untilled soil surfaces with low roughness and cover, in general, provided hydrograms and sedimentograms with shorter start-up period and greater magnitude, regardless of the presence or absence of crust and type of crop sequence. The recently-tilled soil surfaces and those with medium and great roughness, in general, provided hydrograms and sedimentograms with longer start-up period and smaller magnitude, practically regardless of cover and type of crop sequence. The runoff from soil surfaces with complete cover was diminished and erosion eliminated, regardless of tillage and type of crop sequence. For the crop sequence with teosinte, the hydrograms and sedimentograms showed longest start-up periods and smallest magnitudes, followed by the ones with corn+cowpea and pearl millet, which differed little from each other. The replications of the treatments provided values of instantaneous runoff discharges that seemed more similar to one another and were more regularly distributed in time than those for the corresponding instantaneous concentrations of sediment and instantaneous soil loss rates. The obtained data were valuable for a better understanding of the variation commonly observed in the results of water erosion research developed in the field.