EFFECT OF ANIMAL TRAMPLING ON THE PROPERTIES OF A SOIL. PART II: INFILTRATION AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY

It is important to predict the infiltration process of a soil in order to develop future management strategies for animal production that take into account contamination risks. There are few studies in which basic infiltration rate (TIB) and saturated hydraulic conductivities measured in laboratory (Ks) are compared. The objectives of this study were: 1) To measure the infiltration process for four trampling intensities: zero (control), medium, high and very high; 2) To measure and compare the TIB and Ks; 3) To evaluate the efficiency of the Green and Ampt model (GA) and several pedotransfer functions (FPT) in predicting the infiltration process. The study was carried out in an animal production facility located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with Argiudolls soils in a plain with planted grasslands. The infiltration process was measured with rings of Muntz and Ks in the laboratory using a constant head permeameter. It was found that the TIB decreased to half its value in areas with very high trampling with respect to the control soil. Ks were lower in areas with higher trampling. It was concluded that Ks values were between 5 and 10 times higher than those of TIB. The GA model predicted the approximate infiltration process when its parameters were obtained by FPT from European soils, but not with FPT with parameters from American soils. This is attributed to the fact that Ks values predicted by the European FPT are lower than those obtained using American FPTs.