| Abstract The objective of this work was to evaluate soil porous media quality under different uses, as well as to propose a new index to monitor changes in its structure due to management: the Srelative index. An Inceptisol under irrigated banana cultivation and secondary forest, in the Brazilian Apodi Plateau, was evaluated at three soil layers (0.0-0.1, 0.1-0.2, and 0.2-0.3 m) as to: particle size, particle and bulk density, organic matter content, intrinsic permeability to air, and water retention curve. Total porosity, index for pore continuity (defined by the ratio between soil intrinsic permeability to air and aeration porosity), volume of blocked pores, and the S and Srelative indices were determined. The Srelative index was calculated as the ratio... |
