In arid areas prone to desertification and soil erosion, the effectiveness of radical bench terracing in reducing drought risk is dependent on its correct implementation. However, the relationship between proper terracing implementation and the landscape capacity of holding soil moisture is still not understood. Moreover, spatial patterns of Soil Water Content (SWC) within the same terraced hillslope are weakly studied. The present paper analyses SWC variations in four newly implemented terraced sites in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. In all sites, terraced areas show SWC significantly higher than non-terraced ones, with the lower part of the terraced hillslope more humid than the others. A Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) analysis highlighted significant dependency of SWC from the date of analysis, the position in the terraced slope, and its significant positive correlation with the percent of Water Stable Aggregates (WSA) analyzed at the study sites. Since high soil disturbance induces low soil aggregates stability, this result shows how low soil disturbance can significantly increase SWC of radical terraces. Overall, the results of the present paper testify the good performances of bench terraces in Northern Ethiopia in terms of soil water conservation, and can represent a benchmark study informing future terracing implementation in some arid and semi-arid agricultural areas of the world.

Among the crops that are usually grown under irrigation, one can mention garlic, which is a product with high demand in Brazil and the world, it is highly valued in the cuisine of several countries, and is an aggregated crop with high economic value. In 2018, this work was conducted in Yellow Red Latosol. The objective was to characterize the structure and magnitude of the spatial distribution of garlic production components and to map the productive components to visualize spatial distribution and to evaluate the spatial correlation between garlic bulb yield (BY) and other variables of the crop: total plant mass (TPM), number of leaves (NL), floral tassel length (FTL), leaf length (LL), leaf width (LW), pseudostem diameter (PD), shoot wet mass (SWM), shoot dry mass (SDM), number of cloves per bulb (NCB), clove mass (CM), root dry mass (RDM), and irrigation (IRR). All these traits were sampled in a 90-point grid georeferenced. Data analysis using statistical and geostatistical techniques made it possible to verify that the production components and BY, TPM, NL, FTL, LL, LW, PD, SWM, SDM, CM, and IRR presented special dependence. The spatial correlation between BY and TPM, LW, and CM showed a moderate spatial dependence.

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The objective of this work was to investigate the direct and indirect relationships of morphological variables on garlic bulb yield. The primary components of garlic bulb yield, including clove mass, number of cloves per bulb, and bulb diameter and bulb length, are the variables that affect garlic bulb yield directly. Leaf length and growth of a secondary bulb had a negative correlation to garlic bulb yield. Growth of a secondary bulb also had a negative correlation with the number of cloves per bulb and root dry mass. Irrigation with the deficit, applied at the stage of bulb formation, had a positive correlation with garlic yield and a slightly negative correlation with total plant mass, bulb length, and secondary bulb growth.

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