Runoff sediment and P losses from various soil management practices: modelling in hilly slopes

• Autores: Paulo Roberto da Rocha Junior, Rabin Bhattarai, Raphael Bragança Alves Fernandes, Prasanta Kumar Kalita, Felipe Vaz Andrade
• Localización: Journal of soil science and plant nutrition, ISSN-e 0718-9516, ISSN 0718-9508, Vol. 18, Nº. 1, 2018, págs. 113-128
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This study aimed to evaluate the effect of soil management on water, sediment and P losses in slope plots in east-central Illinois, USA. Field and laboratory experiments were conducted. The soil management studied were: tillage in contour (CT), tillage in downhill (DT), no-tillage (NT) and bare soil (BS). After collecting the field data, WEPP model was used to model the erosion process. The NT and BS management resulted in low (152.35 mm field; 28.51 mm laboratory) and high (315.25 mm field; 63.67 mm laboratory) water loss respectively. For soil losses, similar behavior was observed for NT (0.45 t ha-1 field; 0 t ha-1 laboratory) and BS (87.27 t ha-1 field; 0.86 t ha-1 laboratory) managements. In case of P losses, CT management resulted in the lowest loss (216.26 g ha-1) while high values were found in the BS management (1806.06 g ha-1). The modeled results obtained from WEPP model did not show a good agreement with the data collected at field overestimated and underestimated the soil and water losses. The enrichment rate of runoff with sediment was influenced by soil management practices and the DT (34.48 g L-1 min-1) management showed the high peak. The adoption of NT management in agriculture areas with high slope (32%) can be beneficial to reduce erosion process. The total removal of vegetation cover leaving the soil exposed, similar to the BS management and soil preparation along the slope (DT management) should be avoided.