SOIL AND WATER LOSSES BY EROSION AFTER LAND USE CHANGE, IN RELATION TO TWO TILLAGE METHODS AND TWO FERTILIZATION TYPES

SOIL AND WATER LOSSES BY EROSION AFTER LAND USE CHANGE, IN RELATION TO TWO TILLAGE METHODS AND TWO FERTILIZATION TYPES A change in the type of land use, if not properly planned and conducted, may result in soils with diminished production capacity and increased erosion susceptibility, which will reduce crop yields and hamper soil and water conservation. This study had the purpose of investigating the soil erosion caused by rainfall in an originally native pasture area, in the second and third year of cultivation of two annual row crops (respectively, cowpea - Vigna unguiculata - and shorgum - Shorgum bicolor), under reduced tillage (chiseling) and without mobilization (no tillage) and two fertilization types, mineral (NPK fertilizer) and organic (poultry bed), besides a treatment without fertilization (control). The study was developed in the field, at the Agriculture Experimental Station of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (EEA-UFRGS), in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, in the summer growing seasons of 2007 / 2008 and 2008/2009. An Ultisol with a sandy loam texture in the surface layer and 0.13 m m(-1) average slope steepness under simulated rainfall were used in the study. Two erosion tests were performed in each crop cycle, the first immediately after soil tillage and crop seeding and the second about 90 days later (pod filling stage of cow pea and maturation of sorghum). Rains with 64 mm h(-1) rainfall intensity and 1.5 h duration were applied by a rotating-boom rainfall simulator. The results evidenced, excluding the treatment without fertilization, that the land use change caused no relevant soil and water losses by rainfall erosion. Soil mobilization by chiseling, in most cases, favored surface infiltration and surface retention of rainfall water in the soil and, as consequence, reduced the surface runoff, while also controlling erosion satisfactorily. On the other hand, the absence of soil mobilization in no tillage, also in the majority of cases, induced greater surface runoff, but controlled erosion better. Compared to the treatment without fertilizer, mineral and organic fertilization both helped to reduce runoff and erosion, without definite differences in both tillage methods.