Soil tillage influences soil management and damages structure, reduces the porosity and water infiltration and increases surface runoff. A rotating-boom rainfall simulator was used to investigate the treatments: conventional tillage (CT), no-tillage in burn residue (NB), no-tillage in desiccated residue (ND), and traditional no-tillage in desiccated residue (NT), both cropped, as well as conventional tillage without crop (bare soil - BS), and native pasture treatment (NP), in a Typic Hapludox soil, in the Southern Plateau of Santa Catarina State, Brazil, from March, 2001 to February, 2004, with the objective of quantifying surface runoff. Three simulated rainfall tests were applied in maize and bean crops and five in soybean crop. The surface runoff initial time (IT) and surface runoff peak time (PT), the surface runoff constant rate (RR) and surface runoff volume (RV), and C coefficient of the Rational Equation were quantified. The IT, PT, RR, RV and C coefficient changed with soil tillage treatments and with soil cultivation. The IT and PT were smaller in the CT and BS treatments, while the RR, RV and RC were smaller in ND and NT treatments. The RR changed from 18 mm h-1 in NT to 44 mm h-1 in BS treatments, while the RC changed from 0.29 in NT to 0.71 in BS treatments. The VE varied from 106 m³ ha-1 in ND to 434 m³ ha-1 in BS treatments.
runoff steady rate; runoff volume; C coefficient of Rational Equation
