During timber exploitation in forest stands harvesting machines pass repeatedly along the same track and can cause soil compaction, which leads to soil erosion and restricted tree root growth. The level of soil compaction depends on the number of passes and weight of the wood load. This paper aimed to evaluate soil compaction and eucalyptus growth as affected by the number of passes and wood load of a forwarder. The study was carried out in Santa Maria de Itabira county, […]

For the timber exploitation of forest stands, transport machines pass several times along the same track and this operation can cause soil compaction. This paper aimed to evaluate the soil compaction level as related to the number of passes of a forwarder and weight of the timber load. The study was carried out in Santana do Paraíso country, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, in a six year-old eucalypt stand with 3 x 2 m spacing on an caulinitic Oxisol. The trees […]