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Jullian Sone

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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.