Compaction of a Soil Subjected to the Traffic of Harvesters and Forwarders During Wood Harvesting

This study evaluated the compaction of a soil submitted to the traffic of wood harvesting machines in Pinus taeda L. stands. The data were obtained from a forest company located in the municipality of Campo do Tenente, Parana state, Brazil. Soil compaction was evaluated by determining the following physical parameters: bulk density, particle density, total porosity, aeration porosity, and soil penetration resistance at three depths: 0 to 15, 15 to 30, and 30 to 50 cm. The data were submitted to analysis of variance, and means were compared by the Tukey test at 5% probability level. The results show that the traffic of forest machines caused greater compaction in the soil surface layers after the traffic of forwarders, with an increase of 151.4% in the increment of soil penetration resistance compared with the control, with a mean value of 1.76 MPa. We conclude that there are no statistically significant differences in soil properties due to machine traffic in the cut-to-length system.

forest machines; compaction; environment