Soil compaction is one of the most important reasons for decrease in crop yield. The impact of animal trampling on integrated beef cattle raising-crop production systems were studied to evaluate the changes in soil physical properties (bulk density, porosity, soil resistance to penetration and soil water infiltration). The field experiment was carried out in Jari, in the mid- plateau region of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Three management systems of winter pastures (black oat; Avena strigosa Schreber + ryegrass; Lolium multiflorum Lam.) were studied under different grazing frequencies: (1) No grazing (NG), (2) grazing every 28 days (G28) and (3) grazing every fourteen days (G14). The summer crops soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) or corn (Zea mays L.), as antecedent crop in rotation to the winter pastures, were also studied to measure the increasing or decreasing effects on compaction by animal trampling. The greatest effects of animal trampling were concentrated in the top soil layer (0 to 0.05 m), but under the highest grazing frequency (G14) macroporosity was reduced down to the 0.10-0.15 m layer. The soil resistance to penetration had peaks of 2.61 and 2.49 MPa in the G28 and G14 treatments, respectively, in the 0.05-0.08 layer. In the ungrazed areas the values remained lower, around 1.66 MPa. Soil water infiltration was significantly affected by animal trampling and by the previous summer crop. In the case of corn area, the soil was less sensitive to cattle trampling, unlike in the areas following soybean, where the highest grazing frequency (G14) reduced the water infiltration rates. Soybean induced higher values of macroporosity in the evaluated soil layers; when related with lower beef cattle density or ungrazed pastures, the rates of water infiltration and accumulated infiltration were higher.
integrated cattle raising-crop production systems; no tillage; rotational grazing; soil compaction; animal trampling; infiltration; soil management
