Impact of goat trampling on soil attributes in an area of caatinga

Abstract

The objective in this experiment was to evaluate the effect of trampling goat on the density and some soil hydraulic properties in an area of caatinga in Cariri of Paraíba. The experiment was conducted at the “Experimental Bacia School”, in São João do Cariri-PB. The treatments consisted of three stocking rates and three paddocks: 3.1an/ha, 1.5an/ha and 0an/ha, from September 2007 to October 2008. We used a completely randomized design with 20 repeatability. Infiltration tests were performed and there were collected samples of soil at the beginning at the end of the experiment, after applicating treatments for analysis of soil density, water content, initial moisture content, final moisture content, sorptivity and hydraulic conductivity. The results showed that the goat trampling in areas of caatinga, in the periods studied, do not cause updates on the density, hydraulics conductivity, sorptivity and soil moisture. The ranges of the attributes of the land caused most physicists features soil physics proper to that of grazing goats, regardless of the stocking rates used.