Soil resistance to penetration is frequently used as an indicator of soil compaction in management systems and can be directly related to crop growth and yields in general. It is important to use geostatistical methods in the assessment of soil resistance to penetration by considering the data heterogeneity of the area. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spatial variability of soil penetration resistance (PR) in a Vertisol with mango trees. Data collection was performed in the Project area Mandacaru I in Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil, by using an electronic penetrometer for determination of PR in the layers 0.00-0.10, 0.10-0.20, 0.20-0.30, and 0.30-0.40 m and a GPS navigation system to determine the geographic position. Soil samples were also collected to determine soil moisture and texture. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and geostatistics were used. Results showed an increase in PR in the deeper layers, reaching over 3.000 kPa at specific points. With these results it is possible to manage the compaction that proved critical at some points, and perform specific soil management, according to the compaction level.
compaction; soil depth; geostatistics
