Evaluation Of Agricultural Land Under Watering Corner Picacho, Subbasin Motatán Alto, State Merida. Soil Characterizatio

Abstract

In the world, and particularly in Venezuela, agriculture is the most relevant economic activity for achieving and maintaining adequate agrifood security. In the Southern Paramos, intensive agricultural use of land is carried out without appropriate planning and land management that would allow for agro-ecological sustainability. The objective of this work is to characterize the soils of the area of infl uence of the irrigation committee “El Rincón del Picacho” as part of the process of land evaluation of such an important horticultural production area. The procedure consisted in the description and characterization of soil profi les. Seven profi les were described in representative plots and the following criteria were taken into account: relatively homogeneous reliefs and availability of the plots by the producers. Each plot was referenced in the 6042ne cartography of the state of Merida, using the AutoCAD 2006  program. The soils are characterized by presenting: sandy loam textures, thickness of the epipedon from 37 to 47 cm, slopes between 10 and 20%, low apparent densities (1.06 to 1.25 Mgm-3), variable content of thick fragments (2 to 48%), pH between strong and moderately acid (4.9 to 5.7), moderate to high organic matter content (2.6 to 6.3%), cation exchange capacity from moderate
to high.