Measurements of soil penetration resistance (SR) have been frequently used for the evaluation of soil structural quality for plant growth. However, different data analysis approaches have been used, without a previous evaluation of their statistical quality. In this study we tested the hypothesis that the mean is the parameter with best statistical properties to evaluate alterations in soil penetration resistance in response to soil use and management, as compared to other SR statistical parameters. Undisturbed (5 × 5 cm) soil cores were collected from three sampling sites with different degrees of compaction: an undisturbed site under native scierophylous forest (NC); a site under short-duration grazing with post-grazing residue maintained at 2.0 to 2.5...
