AVALIAÇÃO DO DESEMPENHO DO MÉTODO DAS PESAGENS PARA A DETERMINAÇÃO DA UMIDADE DO SOLO

ABSTRACT The knowledge of soil moisture is quite important because it indicates soil hydric conditions. There are any methods used for determination, in this way, the present study aimed to compare the results of soil moisture obtained by the standard method and by the weighing method for determination of the water content of the soil in different textural classes. The study was conducted in the “Laboratorio de Hidraulica Agricola da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria”. Two methods were tested (standard method, M0 and weighing method, M3) with three soil samples (S1, S2, S3) and three repetitions for each. The linear regression was made between the methods, for obtaining the correlation coefficient ( r ), the Wilmott concordance index ( Iw ) and Performance Index ( Id ). From the results obtained can be stated that the method of weighing presented a performance good and very good. In addition, it was concluded that the method of weighing was also reliable in determining soil moisture. Therefore, it is possible to use the alternative method to determine the soil moisture.