The agricultural use of soils usually relies on the use of heavy machinery that cause soil compaction, affecting the amount of air and water available for plants. The present study was carried out in the year 2000 and aimed at studying the performance of aggregates of an Amazon Oxisol under mechanical compression and that were subjected to varying degrees of matric potential. Humid and undisturbed tropical forest soil samples were collected from the A horizon (10 cm deep) and B horizon (150 cm deep). In the laboratory, the samples were broken into fragments and sieved to obtain 2 to 3 mm aggregates, which were placed in equilibrium under four matric potentials. Thereafter, they were exposed to uni-dimensional compression with pressures varying from 32 to 1.000 kPa. The highest compressibility of the aggregates for horizon A as well as for horizon B was observed for a matric potential of -32 kPa (soil moisture of 0.38 kg kg-1), and the lowest for the potentials of -1 kPa and -1.000 kPa (soil moistures of 0.32 and 0.30 kg kg-1, respectively), indicating that the soil should not be managed when moisture approximates 0.38 kg kg-1. The largest reduction in aggregate volume occurred under a mechanical pressure below 400 kPa. This indicates that these soils are quite prone to compaction, specially the aggregates of the A horizon (10 cm), possibly because of better structural conditions owing to the higher organic matter content.
edometric assay; empty index; total porosity; soil compression; soil compaction
