Study of saturated soil hydraulic conductivity and its relation to hydrological and erosion processes in a watershed covered with sugar-cane

• Grant number: 15/10207-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2015
• End date: June 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering - Soil and Water Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Jorge Marcos de Moraes
• Grantee: Ettore Becaro Simões
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The need to increase the national power generation resources, due to the upward trend in electricity consumption combined with the growing demand for ethanol as a result of the flex-fuel vehicles popularity, generate an expectation of sugar-cane production growth in the next years. Despite the growing interest in environmental studies in this type of vegetation, hydrological and erosion processes are poorly studied at all scales. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil (Ksat) is a fundamental parameter to quantify water and solutes dynamics in the soil and it is useful to elucidate problems related to the environment, agriculture and water resources preservation. The goal of this proposal is to study Ksat in a watershed covered by sugarcane and together with a rainfall intensity analysis to investigate the hydrological processes involved in the runoff generation and its influence on erosion. The study is related to the projects "Study of hydrology and erosion in a watershed covered by sugarcane" (Postdoctoral, the CNPq. 159679 / 2014-1) and "Dynamics of sheet erosion in a watershed covered with cane sugar-"(PhD, Fapesp no. 2013 / 15281-5).