Estudio de las Prácticas Culturales, Porosidad del Suelo y Gestión Hídrica en el Combate contra la Desertificación

Abstract

To evaluate the long term effects of different cultural practices in the desertification combat, a comparative study between a dryland conservative cropping system of cereals and another more traditional one was done. The conservative system has had direct seeding along 10 consecutive years, while the traditional one has had soil tillage. On a soil of the type Chromic Vertisol in Portugal the continuity of the porous space and therefore the water dynamics of the soil were evaluated using 2D images. To have a better representation of the area under study, soil samples of 250 cm2 were analyzed. The results, demonstrated that the conservative system, induces an increase of the porous space continuity in depth. Thus, the cultural conservative practices produce alterations in the water regime of the soil, being an important strategy to adopt, as intervening factor in the hydrologic cycle and as a concrete action against desertification.