SOIL MOISTURE VARIATION ANALYSES ON EXPERIMENTAL PLOTS, USING BIODEGRADABLE GEOTEXTILE, UBERLANDIA MUNICIPALITY, MINAS GERAIS STATE

This research aims to analyze the effectiveness of geotextiles constructed from buriti mat, improving soil moisture conditions on degraded soil at the experimental station, Gloria Farm, Uberlandia City - Minas Gerais State. It was monitored between 18/11/2005 and 30/03/2006. It was constructed two plots with 10 m(2) (1 m x 10 m), each one with bare soil and another one with geotextile, 12 degrees slope, being used 40 geotextiles. The photo comparison was obtained considering 17 photographs at the same point, with supervised classification. The determination of soil moisture at different longitudinal locations on the plots was carried out by soil moisture measuring device (Theta Probe). In order to understand the dynamics of the soil moisture on the plots, the monitoring was divided into three stages:1. Geotextile; 2. Geotextile and Grass; and 3. Grass. According to the results obtained in this research work, it was observed difference in soil moisture between bare soil and geotextile plots, being the great difference observed in the second stage (geotextile and grass) reaching 4.9%, when compared to the first stage (geotextile), that is, reaching 4,3%. The third stage (grass) had an average value of 3,5 %, the lowest data of moisture level in the soil during the monitoring period. This situation has been influenced by grass that provides great protection to the soil surface, demanding a higher increase in rainfall so that the rainfall drops strike the soil surface on geotextile and grass plot. However, the total average demonstrated that on geotextile and grass plot soil moisute (15,5%) was higher than on bare soil plot (11,1%).