UN MÉTODO SIMPLE Y RÁPIDO PARA DETERMINAR LA ESTABILIDAD DE AGREGADOS EN ENTISOLES FRANCO ARENOSOS.

Aggregate stability (EA) is the best soil physical health indicator. However, its determination is complex and time-consuming, which discourages its frequent use. Other proposed indicators are either the mean weighted diameter change between capillary wetting (MC) and aggressive wetting (MV) (ΔDMPMC-MV), which requires six water sieving, or the normalized stability index (IEN), which also requires a correction by sand size. This study aimed to evaluate simpler and quicker soil parameters as EA indicators. Soil samples were taken at 0-20 cm from Entisols with sandy loam surface texture of San Luis Province (Argentina) under four soil uses. The IEN, the ΔDMPMC-MV, aggregate mean weight diameter after MV (DMPMV, three sievings), the change of macroaggregate (2000-8000 µm, MA) mass between MC and MV (ΔmasaMAMC-MV, two sievings), and the MA mass after MV (masaMAMV, one sieving) were determined. The IEN was not able to differentiate the four soil uses assessed. The ΔDMPMC-MV was closely related to ΔmasaMAMC-MV (R2=0,99), allowing to reduce the number of water sievings from six to two. However, neither ΔDMPMC-MV nor ΔmasaMAMC-MV significantly reflected the effect of soil use, since they presented a high variability and negative values that hinder their interpretation. The DMPMV is a good indicator of EA and its use would allow to reduce the number of water sievings to three. However, DMPMV was very closely related to masaMAMV (R2=0,99). Thus, EA could be determined through the stability of MA measured through masaMAMV, which requires only one water sieving. This would encourage soil physical health monitoring. Nevertheless, it is necessary to continue the research considering a greater range of edaphoclimatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]