Infiltrability of an Oxisol in Paraná, Brazil as Influenced by Different Crop Rotations

Infiltrability of various soybean and maize rotations under conventional tillage and no-tillage was studied to evaluate these rotations with respect to soil conservation practices. Measurements were carried out with a rainfall simulator on an Oxisol in two trials in northern Parana, Brazil. Differences between rotations were greatest in the conventional tillage treatments and here maize/soybean rotations showed a higher infiltrability than continuous cropping. In the no-tillage treatments, there were hardly any significant differences. On the whole, rotations grown with maize at the time of measurement resulted in the lowest infiltrabilities. Tillage effects were of greater importance than rotation effects, infiltrability being consistently highest under no-tillage. Soil surface sealing in dependence of the degree of soil cover was shown to be the prime factor governing infiltrability.