An experiment was carried out to verify if soil hydraulic properties change according to pedologic horizon division. Two oxisols were morphologically described and undisturbed soil samples in five replicates were taken at every 0.10 m down to 1.0 m soil depth for the determination of the hydraulic conductivity in saturated soil (Ko) by the falling-head method, and of soil water retention curves (ψm (θ)) by means of porous plate funnels (tensions of 1, 2 and 4 kPa) and porous plate pressure cells (tensions of 10, 30, 50, 100, 500 e 1500 kPa). Results indicate that Ko and ψm are not always correlated to pedologic horizons. In soils with high morphologic homogeneity, like Oxisols, hydraulic characterization is even more difficult since some parameters used in pedology are inefficient for hydraulic separation.
hydraulic conductivity; water retention curve; hydraulic horizons