The adoption of mechanized harvesting associated to the sugarcane handling system generates ground compaction which affects the water availability to the plants. The recent handling technique named traffic control is viewed as an alternative for sugarcane mechanization, in which traffic space is separated from plant growing spaces, concentrating the tires path in delimited lines. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of traffic control in areas cultivated with sugarcane, regarding the soil physical quality, and the mechanical harvesting system with no straw burning (raw sugarcane). The project was developed in area cultivated with sugarcane including the following treatments: with traditional mechanized harvesting; with traffic control - augmented span; with traffic control - augmented span and automatic driving. The soil physical attributes evaluated were the density, the macro and microporosity in layers from 0.00-0.10, 0.10-0.20 and 0.20-0.30m deep, in the row in entrerrodado under the wheels of sugarcane culture , as well as the least Limiting water range from 0.00 to 0.20m depth. The research was carried under a tri-factorial experimental design, with parcels subdivided into random block-type delineation. The minimum limiting water range verified that the management systems with traffic control had presented grater water availability to sugarcane crop.
soil management; automatic tractor guidance; traffic control
