Abstract

The sugarcane agroecosystem has been the focus of much research. Mainly, because the sugarcane in Brazil has great economic importance and land occupancy. Prominent among this research is water replacement in the soil, which can be monitored by tensiometers. Therefore, this study aimed to monitor the matric potential at different positions in the soil to check the influence of the depth and horizontal distance from the tensiometer relative to the dripline in evaluating soil moisture in Dystrophic Red Latosol cultivated with sugarcane under subsurface drip irrigation. The experiment was conducted in the experimental area of the Federal Institute of Goias (IF Goiano), Campus Rio Verde, GO. The planting of sugar cane occurred in a double row, and the dripline was buried 0.20 m deep under the surface of the soil between the crop rows. The soil matric potential was recorded at four depths (0.20; 0.40; 0.60 and 0.80 m of the soil surface) and four horizontal distances from the dripline (0.15; 0.30; 0.45 and 0.60 m). The values of soil matric potential were evaluated through mathematical regressions and compared to each other using the homogeneity test for linear models. The depth of monitoring and the horizontal distance between the dripline and the tensiometric rods had strong and weak influences, respectively, in the soil’s matric potential. The highest values of soil matric potential were observed in the deeper layers of the soil.

Key words: Matric potential, wetted bulb, water replacement, dystrophic red latosol, Saccharum officinarum L.