The search for production forms that meet the increasing worldwide demands, maintaining the potential of the natural resources and in a systemic view of the social, economic and environmental sustainability, must be everybody's interest and above all a concern of professionals of agrarian sciences. Aiming at a contribution in this direction, the effect of no-till and cultivated pasture production on the physical and water properties of a Typic Haplustox (Distrophic Red-Yellow Latosol) were evaluated. The study was conducted on a private farm (lat 15 ° 31 ' 58 " S, long, 55 ° 18 ' 07 " W, at 726-809 m asl) in a gentle sloping topography. Ten randomly chosen points in a maize field under no-till management (PD for eight years), Brachiaria humidicola pasture (PC - grazed for seven consecutive years), and native Cerrado pasture (CP) were tested for soil resistance to mechanical penetration (RSP) and sampled in the layers 5-10 and 10-15 cm. In the disturbed samples the current water content (CA), particle texture and density (Dp) were determined, and in the undisturbed samples the total porosity (Pt), macroporosity (Ma) and microporosity (Mi), saturated soil water conductivity (Ks), characteristic curves of soil water retention, and bulk density (Ds), as well as the available water content (AD). The data were submitted to analysis of variance and the averages compared at p < 0.05, using a completely randomized design with split plots (3 soil uses x 2 sampling depths). In the soils under PD an increase of up to 13.38 % was observed in Ds, 45.83 % in SRP, 29.81 % in AD and decreases of up to 45.61 % in Ma and up to 91.89 % in Ks. The magnitude of effects on soil properties were ranked as follows: PD > PC > CP. The RSP, Ma and Ks were the attributes most affected by the distinct soil uses.
no-tillage; pasture; soil penetration resistance
