STUDIES ABOUT SOIL ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY MEASUREMENTS

The electric conductivity is the capacity of a material in driving electric current and one of its usefulness in the agriculture comes from the fact that the soil electrical conductivity (EC) varies with its intrinsic physicochemical variability. The objective of this work was to study the EC behavior and advance on the factors understanding that affects its variability, and develops systems for measuring and mapping EC. We built a system with several measurement configurations, and on the field tests the results were partially satisfactory. In a detailed study using only a commercial EC measuring equipment the results clearly indicated that EC relates with soil texture and moisture, and may represent an important and low price tool for collecting data and characterizing soil physical properties.