scholarly journals Effectiveness of Straw Mulch on Infiltration, Splash Erosion, Runoff and Sediment in Laboratory Conditions

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Gholami ◽  
Kazimierz Banasik ◽  
Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi ◽  
Abdulvahed Khaledi Darvishan ◽  
Leszek Hejduk

Abstract Mulches have extraordinary potential in reducing surface runoff, increasing infiltration of water into the soil and decreasing soil erosion. The straw mulches as a biological material, has the ability to be a significant physical barrier against the impact of raindrops and reduce the detachment of soil aggregates. The present study is an attempt to determine the efficiency of straw mulch as conservation treatment in changes in the splash erosion, time-to-runoff, runoff coefficient, infiltration coefficient, time-to-drainage, drainage coefficient, sediment concentration and soil loss. The laboratory experiments have been conducted for sandy-loam soil taken from deforested area, about 15 km of Warsaw west, Poland under lab conditions with simulated rainfall intensities of 60 and 120 mmh–1, in 4 soil moistures of 12, 25, 33 and 40% and the slope of 9%. Compared with bare treatments, results of straw mulch application showed the significant conservation effects on splash erosion, runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil loss and significant enhancement effects on infiltration and drainage. The results of Spearman-Rho correlation showed the significant (p < 0.05) correlation with r = –0.873, 0.873, 0.878 and 0.764 between rainfall intensity and drainage coefficient, downstream splash, sediment concentration and soil loss and with r = –0.976, 0.927 and –0.927 between initial soil moisture content and time-to-runoff, runoff coefficient and infiltration coefficient, respectively.

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. R. Sadeghi ◽  
L. Gholami ◽  
M. Homaee ◽  
A. Khaledi Darvishan

Abstract. Although various organic and inorganic mulches are used for soil conservation purposes, the comparative effectiveness of them on soil characteristics has not been comprehensively considered from different aspects. The present study is therefore an attempt to determine the efficiency of straw mulch, manure and TA-200 polyacrylamide with respective rates of 500, 300 and 50 g m-2, respectively, in changing sediment concentration and soil loss. The experiments were conducted for sandy-loam soil (collected from the top 0–20 cm-layer) taken from a summer rangeland, the Alborz Mountains, Northern Iran under laboratory conditions with simulated rainfall intensities of 30, 50, 70 and 90 mm h-1 and the slope of 30%. The results showed that the straw mulch decreased soil concentration at rate of 45.60% compared to the control plots, and performed better than manure (8.98% reduction) and PAM (4.74% reduction). The results showed that the maximum reduction in sediment concentration and soil loss for all soil amendments occurred in the rainfall intensity of 90 mm h-1 with the rates of 58.69 and 63.24%, for straw mulch, 14.65 and 13.14%, for manure and 20.15 and 23.44% for TA-200, respectively.


Solid Earth ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 445-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. R. Sadeghi ◽  
L. Gholami ◽  
M. Homaee ◽  
A. Khaledi Darvishan

Abstract. Various organic and inorganic mulches are used for soil conservation purposes, the effectiveness of which on soil characteristics has not been comprehensively considered from different aspects. The present study surveys the efficiency of straw mulch, manure and TA-200 polyacrylamide with respective rates of 500, 300 and 50 g m−2 in changing sediment concentration and soil loss. The experiments were conducted for sandy-loam soil taken from a summer rangeland, the Alborz Mountains, northern Iran. The experiments were performed under laboratory conditions with simulated rainfall intensities of 30, 50, 70 and 90 mm h−1 and a slope of 30%. The results showed that the straw mulch decreased soil erosion at rate of 45.60% compared to the control plots and performed better than manure (8.98% reduction) and PAM (4.74% reduction). The results showed that the maximum reduction in sediment concentration and soil loss for all soil amendments occurred at the rainfall intensity of 90 mm h−1 with the rates of 58.69 and 63.24% for straw mulch, 14.65 and 13.14% for manure and 20.15 and 23.44% for TA-200.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 2915-2938 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. R. Sadeghi ◽  
L. Gholami ◽  
E. Sharifi Moghadam ◽  
A. Khaledi Darvishan

Abstract. Amendments can control the runoff and soil loss by protecting soil surface. However, scale effects on runoff and soil loss control has not been considered yet. The present study has been formulated to determine the efficiency of two plot sizes of 6 and 0.25 m2 covered by straw mulch with rate of 0.5 kg m−2 in changing the time to runoff, runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil loss under laboratory conditions. The study has been conducted for a sandy-loam soil taken from summer rangeland, Alborz Mountains, Northern Iran under simulated rainfall intensities of 50 and 90 mm h−1 and in 3 replicates. The results of the study showed that the straw mulch had more significant effect in in reducing runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil loss at 0.25 m2 plot scale. The maximum effectiveness in time to runoff for both the scales, observed in rainfall intensity of 90 mm h−1. The maximum increasing and decreasing rates in time to runoff and runoff coefficient observed in the rainfall intensity of 90 mm h−1 with the amounts of 367.92 and 96.71% for 0.25 m2 plot and the amounts of 110.10 and 15.08% for 6 m2 plot respectively. The maximum change of soil loss in both the intensities of 50 and 90 mm h−1 occurred at 0.25 m2 plot with the amount of 100% whereas at 6 m2 plot, decreasing rates of soil loss for in both the intensities of 50 and 90 mm h−1 were 46.74 and 63.24%, respectively.


Solid Earth ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. R. Sadeghi ◽  
L. Gholami ◽  
E. Sharifi ◽  
A. Khaledi Darvishan ◽  
M. Homaee

Abstract. Amendments can control the runoff and soil loss by protecting the soil surface. However, scale effects on runoff and soil loss control have not been considered yet. The present study has been formulated to determine the efficiency of two plot sizes of 6 and 0.25 m2 covered by 0.5 kg m−2 of straw mulch with regard to changing the time to runoff, runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil loss under laboratory conditions. The study used a sandy-loam soil taken from summer rangeland, Alborz Mountains, northern Iran, and was conducted under simulated rainfall intensities of 50 and 90 mm h−1 and in three replicates. The results of the study showed that the straw mulch had a more significant effect on reducing the runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil loss on a 0.25 m2 plot scale. The maximum effectiveness in time to runoff for both the scales was observed at a rainfall intensity of 90 mm h−1. The maximum increasing and decreasing rates in time to runoff and runoff coefficient were observed at a rainfall intensity of 90 mm h−1, with 367.92 and 96.71% for the 0.25 m2 plot and 110.10 and 15.08% for the 6 m2 plot. The maximum reduction in the runoff coefficient was in the 0.25 m2 plot for the two rainfall intensities of 50 and 90 mm h−1, with rates of −89.34 and −96.71%. The maximum change in soil loss at the intensities of both 50 and 90 mm h−1 occurred in the 0.25 m2 plot, with 100%, whereas in the 6 m2 plot, decreasing rates of soil loss for the intensities of both 50 and 90 mm h−1 were 46.74 and 63.24%, respectively.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 553-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ataollah KAVIAN ◽  
Leila GHOLAMI ◽  
Maziar MOHAMMADI ◽  
Velibor SPALEVIC ◽  
Moghadeseh FALAH SORAKI

Soil erosion is one of the key challenges in soil and water conservation. Vegetation that covers soil and organic and inorganic mulch is very useful for the control of erosion processes. This study examined treatment with wheat residual (as agriculture mulch) on infiltration, time to runoff, runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil erosion processes. The study has been conducted for sandy-loam soil taken from summer rangeland (Northern Iran) with simulated rainfall intensities of 50 and 100 mm h-1. The experiment was conducted in slopes of 30% in three replications with two amounts of wheat residual of 50 and 90 %. The results showed that conservation percent of soil erosion for wheat residual 50 and 90% was 61.68 and 73.25%, respectively (in rainfall intensity of 50 mm h-1). Also, the conservation percent of soil erosion for wheat residual of 50 and 90% cover was 70.68 and 90.55, respectively (in rainfall intensity of 100 mm h-1). It was concluded that the conservation treatments could reduce runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil erosion and increase the time to runoff and infiltration coefficient. This effect was significant on time for infiltration, sediment concentration and soil erosion variables (R2=0.99), time to runoff and runoff coefficient variables (R2=0.95). The interaction effects of rainfall intensity and soil conservation was significant for sediment concentration and soil erosion variables (R2=0.99).


Solid Earth ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 1293-1302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulvahed Khaledi Darvishan ◽  
Vafa Homayounfar ◽  
Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi

Abstract. The use of laboratory methods in soil erosion studies, rainfall simulation experiments, Gerlach troughs, and other measurements such as ring infiltrometer has been recently considered more and more because of many advantages in controlling rainfall properties and high accuracy of sampling and measurements. However, different stages of soil removal, transfer, preparation and placement in laboratory plots cause significant changes in soil structure and, subsequently, the results of runoff, sediment concentration and soil loss. Knowing the rate of changes in sediment concentration and soil loss variables with respect to the soil preparation for laboratory studies is therefore inevitable to generalize the laboratory results to field conditions. However, there has been little attention given to evaluate the effects of soil preparation on sediment variables. The present study was therefore conducted to compare sediment concentration and soil loss in natural and prepared soil. To achieve the study purposes, 18 field 1 ×  1 m plots were adopted in an 18 % gradient slope with sandy–clay–loam soil in the Kojour watershed, northern Iran. A portable rainfall simulator was then used to simulate rainfall events using one or two nozzles of BEX: 3/8 S24W for various rainfall intensities with a constant height of 3 m above the soil surface. Three rainfall intensities of 40, 60 and 80 mm h−1 were simulated on both prepared and natural soil treatments with three replications. The sediment concentration and soil loss at five 3 min intervals after time to runoff were then measured. The results showed the significant increasing effects of soil preparation (p ≤ 0.01) on the average sediment concentration and soil loss. The increasing rates of runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil loss due to the study soil preparation method for laboratory soil erosion plots were 179, 183 and 1050 % (2.79, 2.83 and 11.50 times), respectively.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 885-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Khaledi Darvishan ◽  
V. Homayounfar ◽  
S. H. R. Sadeghi

Abstract. The use of laboratory methods in soil erosion studies causes soil disturbance, preparation and placement in experimental plots and has been recently considered more and more because of many advantages. However, different stages of soil removal, transfer, preparation and placement in laboratory plots cause significant changes in soil structure and subsequently, the results of runoff, sediment concentration and soil loss. Knowing the rate of changes in sediment concentration and soil loss variables with respect to the soil preparation for laboratory studies is therefore inevitable to generalize the laboratory results to field conditions. However, there has been less attention to evaluate the effects of soil preparation on sediment variables. The present study was therefore conducted to compare sediment concentration and soil loss in natural and prepared soil. To achieve the study purposes, 18 field 1 m × 1 m-plots were adopted in an 18% gradient slope with sandy-clay-loam soil in the Kojour watershed, Northern Iran. Three rainfall intensities of 40, 60 and 80 mm h−1 were simulated on both prepared and natural soil treatments with three replications. The sediment concentration and soil loss at five three-minute intervals after time-to-runoff were then measured. The results showed the significant (p ≤ 0.01) increasing effects of soil preparation on the average sediment concentration and soil loss. The increasing rates of runoff coefficient, sediment concentration and soil loss due to the study soil preparation method for laboratory soil erosion plots, were 179, 183 and 1050% (2.79, 2.83 and 11.50 times), respectively.


1995 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 258-259
Author(s):  
Paul J. Semtner ◽  
William B. Wilkinson III

Abstract This experiment was conducted to evaluate various systemic insecticides applied as soil or transplant water treatments followed by foliar applications of Orthene for TA and TFB control on fluecured tobacco and to determine the impact of treatment on tobacco yield and price. The experiment was conducted at the VPI & SU Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Blackstone, VA. Eleven treatments and an untreated control were established in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications. Plots, 4 × 40 ft (1 row × 24 plants), were separated by single guard rows. Pretransplant soil treatments of most liquid formulations were applied broadcast with a CO2-pressurized tractor sprayer that delivered 30.4 gal/acre at 40 psi through 8003LP tips on 29 Apr (Ambient temperature, 85-89°F, soil temperature, 75°F; soil pH, 5.8; OM, 2%). Treatments were immediately incorporated by double disking. The Furadan and Temik treatments were applied during bed formation and immediately covered with 6 to 8 inches of soil on 17 May. Furadan 4F was diluted 50:50 in water and applied in a narrow stream (&lt; 1-inch wide) in the row using a peristaltic pump. Temik was applied in a 14 inch band using a tractor mounted- Gandy granular applicator. The soil moisture was good for both the pretransplant soil and bedding treatments. ‘K-326’ flue-cured tobacco was transplanted into experimental plots in a Chesterfield-Mayodan-Bourne sandy loam soil on 18 May. A measuring cup was used to apply transplant water (TPW) treatments of Orthene and Admire in 4 fl oz/plant (204 gal/acre) at the base of each plant in the treatment plots. Virginia Cooperative Extension recommendations were followed for production of the crop. Foliar applications of Orthene and Dipel were applied on 6 Jul with a CO2-pressurized backpack sprayer that delivered 30 gal/acre through 3 TX-12 tips at 60 psi. TA populations were estimated on the upper 4 leaves of 10 plants/plot about once a week from 5 to 11 wk after transplanting. On 25 Aug, TA damage was rated on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 = no aphid damage or sooty mold and 10 = very severe necrosis of leaves and extensive sooty mold. TFB and TFB feeding holes in the most damaged leaf were counted on 10 plants/ plot. Tobacco was harvested as it ripened, weighed, graded by a USDA/AMS inspector, and yield and price were calculated. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and significantly different means were separated by WD (K-ratio = 100). Aphid count data were transformed to Log10(x + 1) before analysis.


1974 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 877-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. I. Mayfield ◽  
R. L. Aldworth

The C2H2-reduction assay was used to study the activity of non-symbiotic N2-fixing bacteria in glucose-amended artificial soil aggregates prepared from a sandy clay loam and a sandy loam soil. Anaerobic incubation under nitrogen resulted in significantly higher rates and greater total quantities of C2H2 reduction than did incubation in air. In the sandy clay loam soil activity under both incubation conditions was due to anaerobic N2-fixing bacteria, whereas in the sandy loam soil aerobic N2-fixing bacteria also proliferated in the aggregates. Direct observation of sectioned aggregates by fluorescence microscopy showed that peripheral zone 1 mm thick sup ported the growth of aerobic microorganisms. The anaerobic microsites in the interior of the aggregates were well protected since disruption procedures involving vigorous shaking with aerated water were required to allow O2 to penetrate and inhibit the anaerobic activity.


2001 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
R H Azooz ◽  
M A Arshad

In areas of the northwestern Canadian Prairies, barley and canola are grown in a short growing season with high rainfall variability. Excessively dry soil in conventional tillage (CT) in dry periods and excessively wet soil in no-tillage (NT) in wet periods could cause a significant decrease in crop production by influencing the availability of soil water. The effects of CT, NT and NT with a 7.5-cm residue-free strip on the planting rows (NTR) on soil water drying (–dW/dt) and recharge (dW/dt) rates were studied in 1992 and 1993 during wet and dry periods to evaluate the impact of NTR, NT and CT systems on soil moisture condition. The soils, Donnelly silt loam and Donnelly sandy loam (both Gray Luvisol) were selected and soil water content by depth was measured by time domain reflectometry. Water retained at 6 matric potentials from –5 to –160 kPa were observed. In the field study, –dW/dt was significantly greater in CT than in NT in the silt loam for the 0- to 30-cm layer during the first 34 d after planting in 1992. The 0- to 30-cm soil layer in CT and NTR dried faster than in NT during a period immediately following heavy rainfall in the silt loam in 1993. The drying coefficient (–Kd ) was significantly greater in CT and NTR than in NT in the silt loam soil in 1993 and in the sandy loam soil in 1992 in the top 30-cm depth. The recharge coefficient (Kr) was significantly greater in NT and NTR than in CT for the silt loam soil. The NTR system increased the –dW/dt by 1.2 × 10-2 to 12.1 × 10-2 cm d-1 in 1992 and 1993 in the silt loam soil and by 10.2 × 10-2 cm d-1 in 1993 in the sandy loam soil as compared with NT. The dW/dt was 8.1 × 10-2 cm d-1 greater in NTR in 1992 and 1993 in the silt loam soil and was 1.9 × 10-2 greater in NTR in 1992 than in CT in the sandy loam soil. The laboratory study indicated that NT soils retained more water than the CT soils. The NTR practice maintained better soil moisture conditions for crop growth than CT in dry periods than NT in wet periods. Compared with NT, the NTR avoided prolonged near-saturated soil conditions with increased soil drying rate under extremely wet soil. Key words: Water drying, water recharge, water depletion, wet and drying periods, hydraulic properties, soil capacity to retain water


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