The hydrodynamic properties of soils under pasture and 'caatinga' (native dry forest) are affected by several factors, mainly associated with spatial and temporal aspects, due to differing root characteristics or livestock trampling rates, but few results that evaluate the effect of the magnitude of these sources of variability in the hydrodynamic properties of soils have been reported in the literature. The objective of this study was to analyse the spatial variability of parameters of water retention (van Genuchten) and hydraulic conductivity (Brooks & Corey) curves, obtained with the "Beerkan" methodology based on simple infiltration experiments and soil texture data. These measures were obtained for two sampled areas: an area of pasture (Brachiaria decumbens) and another one of 'caatinga'. The results showed that the use of pasture altered significantly the analysed properties of soil when compared to the ones with the soil under 'caatinga', and that the most significant changes were found in soil density and hydraulic conductivity. The geostatistic analysis identified the existence of spatial dependency of the studied attributes allowing the mapping of experimental areas.
soil management; Beerkan; geostatistic
