Soil compaction from animal traffic is a concern in crop-livestock systems. This experiment was set up in 2007 with the aim of evaluating the effect of different soil management systems and animal traffic on soil physical and water properties and soybean development and yield. The soil evaluated was a dystrofic Red Latosol (Oxisol) under a no-tillage grain crop system intercropped with forage for the past decade. The effect of animal traffic was evaluated in regard to soil bulk density (Bd), macroporosity (Ma), microporosity (Mi), total porosity (TP), soil resistance to penetration (RP) and soil moisture content (θ), as well as soybean emergence, height and yield. A randomized block experimental design was used with three replications, with the treatments of no-tillage soybean cropping without grazing (SD/SP), no-tillage cropping with grazing in oats (SD/CP) and chisel plowing with grazing (ESC/CP). Soil samples were collected in the 0.00 to 0.07 m, 0.07 to 0.15 m and 0.20 to 0.30 m layers at three time periods: before grazing (August 2007), after grazing (December 2007) and after grazing (October 2008). There was no significant effect of grazing on Bd and TP. At 140 days after sowing of soybean, RP reached values above 2 MPa in the 0.00 to 0.15 m layer in the treatments SD/SP and SD/CP, without limiting crop development. Chisel plowing of the soil in crop-livestock integration under the no-tillage system led to soil physical-water conditions less favorable to plant development. Plant height in the SD/SP was greater than in the treatments SD/CP and ESC/CP, and the lowest grain yield was obtained through chisel plowing of the soil in a year with water deficit.
crop-livestock interaction; grazing; soil physical-water properties
