This work aimed at evaluating water distribution in a Latossol profile cultivated with papaya of Formosa group, irrigated by two drippers per plant installed at 0.30 m from the plant. Surface drip irrigation with emitters of 3.75 Lh-1flow rate and subsurface drip with emitters of 2 Lh-1 at 0.25 m depth were used. The humidity values were obtained by means of TDR probes installed and distributed in soil profiles. The readings were performed in a ten-minute interval during two irrigation cycles, using a data acquisition system composed by a TDR, one datalloger and four multiplexers. The data were analyzed from isolines of humidity distribution and results showed that the subsurface drip system had a smaller variation of humidity concentrated in the direction of papaya root system. The water storage for the subsurface system was 17% larger than the one for surface system.
TDR; wetted volume; soil water monitoring
