Abstract
Water erosion triggers the spending of billions of dollars a year to
Brazil, as well as social and environmental issues. One of the
strategies to minimise soil erosion and to foster economic development
is adopting techniques for the integration of agricultural systems.
Nevertheless, studies on long-term experimental fields under integrated
systems are scarce regarding the effect of the integrated crop,
livestock, and forestry system on soil and water loss. As integrated
agricultural systems are popularising, especially in the Brazilian
Cerrado, it is key to understand their impacts on the erosive processes.
As experimental data are fundamental to develop and assess mathematical
models, the lack of such information halts the advance of technologies
that support agricultural development. Here, we assess the influence of
integrated crop, livestock, and forestry systems on interrill erosion.
For that, we will run tests using a portable plot-scale (0.7 m2)
rainfall simulator on Dystrophic Red Latosol using a rainfall intensity
of 60 ± 5 mm h-1. We will study the following management systems:
livestock loading in rotation Panicum Maximum cv. Mombaça pasture;
continuous Brachiaria Decumbens pasture; soybean crop during summer and
crop rotation during fall-winter; and integrated crop-livestock-forestry
system alternating between a four-year Panicum Maximum cv. Massai
pasture and a four-year soybean crop both associated with Eucalyptus
production. The soil management systems have been established since 1993
to evaluate economic and agriculture efficiencies. Thereby, we look
forward to providing not only economic advantages but also new reference
values of soil erosion under integrated agricultural systems, helping to
build resilience for food security. Our findings will also contribute to
adequate land use, therefore, promoting soil and water conservation.