Water erosion risk prediction in eucalyptus plantations

Eucalyptus plantations are normally found in vulnerable ecosystems such as steep slope, soil with low natural fertility and
lands that were degraded by agriculture. The objective of this study was to obtain Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) factors and
use them to estimate water erosion risk in regions with eucalyptus planted. The USLE factors were obtained in field plots under natural
rainfall in the Rio Doce Basin, MG, Brazil, and the model applied to assess erosion risk using USLE in a Geographic Information
System. The study area showed rainfall-runoff erosivity values from 10,721 to 10,642 MJ mm ha-1 h-1 yr-1. Some soils (Latosols)
had very low erodibility values (2.0 x 10-4 and 1.0 x 10-4t h MJ-1 mm-1), the topographic factor ranged from 0.03 to 10.57 and crop
and management factor values obtained for native forest, eucalyptus and planted pasture were 0.09, 0.12 and 0.22, respectively.
Water erosion risk estimates for current land use indicated that the areas where should receive more attention were mainly areas with
greater topographic factors and those with Cambisols. Planning of forestry activities in this region should consider implementation
of other conservation practices beyond those already used, reducing areas with a greater risk of soil erosion and increasing areas
with very low risk