Usle - rusle C factor estimation for eucalyptus plantations

Abstract

In the last 5 years the area under forest in Uruguay has grown at a rate of 24.000 ha/yr through plantation of different species of Eucalyptus. This brought about concern for possible impacts on the environment and the natural resources. The objective of this study was to obtain local data of soil loss ratios (RPS) of soils under eucalyptus during installation and bare soil, to estimate the C factor of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) with the aim of guiding decisions making on use and management to reduce erosion. The submodel concerning the effect of use and management of the revised version of the model (RUSLE) was used with experimental measurements of the following variables as inputs: biomass in the upper 10 cm of soil, percentage of soil covered by vegetation, percentage of soil covered by residues, random roughness, and eight dripping of rain from the vegetation canopy. These determinations were made in different woodlots of two commercial plantations with contrasting technologies during 3 years. The main results are shown in two tables of RPS values recommended to be used for different productivity levels, plantation method and previous soil use.