Field tests were carried out to characterize spatial variability of saturated hydraulic conductivity (K0) in an alluvial soil at Embrapa-cotton Experimental Station, in São Gonçalo, Paraíba, Brazil. In an 18 ha area nineteen measurements of saturated K0 were taken within 1.0 and 1.65 m depth in the soil profile, as most of the drainage systems in the irrigated areas of the Northeast Brazilian region are installed in this depth interval. Measured K0 values varied from 0.02 to 1.71 m d-1, agreeing with other results commonly obtained for alluvial soils. The observed K0 variability results from natural soil development process, its genesis and geomorphologic complexity.
drainage; hydraulic conductivity; alluvial soil
