Abstract

The following study compared two field methods and one laboratory method to measure saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) in the saturated phase of soil, all evaluated in a clayey loam soil with three replicates. The two field methods under study were the auger hole method (PB) and the cylinder infiltrometer (CI), the laboratory method was the constant head permeameter (PCC). Ks values delivered by the PCC method showed differences in magnitude (1,03 m day-1) and a high variability (CV=249%), thus using these method is not recommended for soil with similar characteristics to the studied one. The PB and the CI methods showed a low variability (CV=39 and 13%) and similar Ks values (10,8 and 7,1 m day-1), being recommended the use of both methods in soils with similar characteristics to the studied one. These methods are complementary, because of the PB requires the presence of a water level, meanwhile the CI requires the absence of these one.