Controlling Soil Water Erosion and Phosphorus Losses from Arable Land in England and Wales

Straw mulch impact on soil properties and initial soil erosion processes in the maize fieldIvan Dugan*, Leon Josip Telak, Iva Hrelja, Ivica Kisic, Igor BogunovicUniversity of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of General Agronomy, Zagreb, Croatia(*correspondence to Ivan Dugan: [email protected])Soil erosion by water is the most important cause of land degradation. Previous studies reveal high soil loss in conventionally managed croplands, with recorded soil losses high as 30 t ha-1 under wide row cover crop like maize (Kisic et al., 2017; Bogunovic et al., 2018). Therefore, it is necessary to test environmentally-friendly soil conservation practices to mitigate soil erosion. This research aims to define the impacts of mulch and bare soil on soil water erosion in the maize (Zea mays&#160;L.) field in Blagorodovac, Croatia (45&#176;33&#8217;N; 17&#176;01&#8217;E; 132 m a.s.l.). For this research, two treatments on conventionally tilled silty clay loam Stagnosols were established, one was straw mulch (2 t ha-1), while other was bare soil. For purpose of research, ten rainfall simulations and ten sampling points were conducted per each treatment. Simulations were carried out with a rainfall simulator, simulating a rainfall at an intensity of 58 mm h-1, for 30 min, over 0.785 m2 plots, to determine runoff and sediment loss. Soil core samples and undisturbed samples were taken in the close vicinity of each plot. The results showed that straw mulch mitigated water runoff (by 192%), sediment loss (by 288%), and sediment concentration (by 560%) in addition to bare treatment. The bare treatment showed a 55% lower infiltration rate. Ponding time was higher (p < 0.05) on mulched plots (102 sec), compared to bare (35 sec), despite the fact that bulk density, water-stable aggregates, water holding capacity, and mean weight diameter did not show any difference (p > 0.05) between treatments. The study results indicate that straw mulch mitigates soil water erosion, because it immediately reduces runoff, and enhances infiltration. On the other side, soil water erosion on bare soil under simulated rainstorms could be high as 5.07 t ha-1, when extrapolated, reached as high as 5.07 t ha-1 in this study. The conventional tillage, without residue cover, was proven as unsustainable agro-technical practice in the study area.Key words: straw mulch, rainfall simulation, soil water erosionAcknowledgmentThis work was supported by Croatian Science Foundation through the project "Soil erosion and degradation in Croatia" (UIP-2017-05-7834) (SEDCRO).LiteratureBogunovic, I., Pereira, P., Kisic, I., Sajko, K., Sraka, M. (2018). Tillage management impacts on soil compaction, erosion and crop yield in Stagnosols (Croatia). Catena, 160, 376-384.Kisic, I., Bogunovic, I., Birk&#225;s, M., Jurisic, A., Spalevic, V. (2017). The role of tillage and crops on a soil loss of an arable Stagnic Luvisol. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science, 63(3), 403-413.

Download Full-text

Impact of soil water erosion processes on catchment export of soil aggregates and associated SOC

Geoderma ◽

10.1016/j.geoderma.2017.01.021 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 294 ◽

pp. 63-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Shoucai Wei ◽

Xiaoping Zhang ◽

Neil B. McLaughlin ◽

Xuewen Chen ◽

Shuxia Jia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Soil Aggregates ◽

Water Erosion ◽

Erosion Processes

Download Full-text

Spatio-temporal effects of vegetated windbreaks on wind erosion and microclimate as basis for model development

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9182 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas Weninger ◽

Simon Scheper ◽

Nathan King ◽

Karl Gartner ◽

Barbara Kitzler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Wind Erosion ◽

Arable Land ◽

Model Development ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Bare Soil ◽

Sediment Traps ◽

Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽

Regional Modelling ◽

Erosion Rates

Wind erosion of arable soil is considered a risk factor for Austrian fields, but direct measurements of soil loss are not available until now. Despite this uncertainty, vegetated windbreaks have been established to minimize adverse wind impacts on arable land. The study addresses these questions: i) How relevant is wind erosion as a factor of soil degradation? ii) How important is the protective effect of vegetated windbreaks? iii) Are systematic patterns of spatial and temporal variability of wind erosion rates detectable in response to weather conditions?&#160;Two experimental fields adjacent to windbreaks were equipped with sediment traps, soil moisture sensors, and meteorological measurement equipment for microclimatic patterns. Sediment traps were arranged in high spatial resolution from next to the windbreak to a distance of ten times the windbreak height. Beginning in January 2020, the amount of trapped sediment was analyzed every three weeks. The highest wind erosion rates on bare soil were observed in June and July. For unprotected fields with bare soil, upscaled annual erosion rates were as high as 0.8 tons per hectare, and sediment trapped increased in a linear fashion with distance from the windbreak. Soil water content near the surface (5 cm depth) was three percent higher at a distance of two times the height of the windbreak than at a distance of six times the height. For the same respective distances from the windbreak, we observed 29 days of soil water contents below the wilting point compared with 60 days.The preliminary outcomes confirmed the expected effects of windbreaks on soil erosion and microclimate in agricultural fields. Prospective results from multiple vegetation periods will be used in an upscaling approach to gain informations for the whole basin. That is meant to be done by a combination with a soil wind erosion model which was so far used for regional modelling of wind erosion susceptibility.

Download Full-text

An assessment of soil water erosion in the Myjava hill land: The application of a physically-based erosion model

Pollack Periodica ◽

10.1556/606.2018.13.3.19 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 197-208

Author(s):

Zuzana Németová ◽

David Honek ◽

Tamara Látková ◽

Monika Šulc Michalková ◽

Silvia Kohnová

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Water Erosion ◽

Erosion Model ◽

Physically Based

Download Full-text

Multiannual Assessment of the Risk of Surface Water Erosion and Metal Accumulation Indices in the Flysch Stream Using the MARS Model in the Polish Outer Western Carpathians

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11247189 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (24) ◽

pp. 7189

Author(s):

Wiktor Halecki ◽

Tomasz Kowalik ◽

Andrzej Bogdał

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Surface Water ◽

Hazard Quotient ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Arable Land ◽

Water Erosion ◽

Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines ◽

Agricultural Activity ◽

Outer Western Carpathians

The anthropogenic problems in richly sculpted areas (mountain and submontane) are mainly related to agricultural activity, which shapes the quality of surface waters. This paper presents an analysis of the results of the hydrochemical tests carried out in the years 2007–2018 at check-control spots. The heavy metal pollution index (HPI < 100) indicated a low risk for aquatic organisms. The statistical calculations obtained by means of multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) designated that the hazard quotient (HQ) index can be combined with the electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved substances (TDS) parameters used in the assessment of water erosion. The HQ index showed that the concentration of individual heavy metals is lower than their value in the 0.5 percentile of the value. In subsequent studies, it should be assessed whether the size of arable land has an impact on the increased concentration of heavy metals in the surface water. We recommend small retention reservoirs as a potential management measure to improve the quality of the surface water at a regional scale. This study has great potential to mitigate the degradation processes related to the insufficient storage capacity, and to promote natural water retention.

Download Full-text