Coffee husk mulch on soil erosion and runoff: experiences under rainfall simulation experiment

Abstract

Abstract. The high erosion rates found in the agriculture land make valuable the use of mulches to control the soil and water losses. Coffee husk (Coffea canephora var. robusta) can be one of those mulches. This paper evaluates how to apply the mulch in order to obtain the best effectiveness. An experimental factorial design 4 × 3 × 2 with two replicates was designed in a greenhouse with a total number of 48 cases. All the samples were deposited in trays of 0.51 m 2 and applied a simulated rain of 122 mm h −1 during 21 min. The factors examined were the following: four soil classes; three treatments -buried (B), surface (S) and non-residue (C) -and the presence (WC) or absence (WOC) of the soil surface crusting. The coffee husk residue (S and B treatments) reduced runoff by 10.2 and 46 % respectively, soil losses by 78.3 and 88.7 % and sediment concentration by 77 and 84.4 %. The infiltration rate increased on average by 104 and 167 %, and time to runoff by 1.58 and 2.07 min respectively. Coffee husk is an efficient mulch to reduce the soil and water losses, although it could not completely cushion the influence of crust.

Reducing sediment concentration and soil loss using organic and inorganic amendments at plot scale

“…The bulk density, pH, electrical conductivity and organic content of the study soil were measured as 1.376 g cm −3 , 7.95, 75.5 µmohs cm −1 and 2.167 %, respectively. The collected soil was carried to the lab and air dried to optimum moisture content to maintain the relative stability of the soil aggregates (Kukal and Sarkar, 2011;Khaledi Darvishan et al, 2014;Moreno-Ramón et al, 2014;Brevik et al, 2015). The pebbles and plant residues were removed from the soil by passing it through a 8 mm sieve to obtain maximum similarity with the soil natural conditions (Defersha et al, 2011;Khaledi Darvishan et al, 2014;Ziadat et al, 2013).…”

“…For example, various natural, organic and inorganic mulches, viz. crop residues, leaf litter, woodchips, bark chips, biological geotextiles, gravel and crushed stones (Gilley et al, 1986;Cerdà, 2001;Smets et al, 2008;Xu et al, 2012;Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013;Mandal and Sharda, 2013;Zhao et al, 2013;Moreno-Ramón et al, 2014), have been applied for soil conservation. Mulches can increase the infiltration capacity of a soil and strongly control soil erosion (Morgan, 1986), runoff and sediment yield (Poesen and Lavee, 1991;Cerdà, 1998).…”

Integrating a mini catchment with mulching for soil water management in a sloping jujube orchard on the semiarid Loess Plateau of China

“…A lot of field and laboratory studies have shown that organic mulching can increase soil water storage by reducing storm runoff (Moreno-Ramón et al, 2014;Sadeghi et al, 2015), increasing infiltration (Montenegro et al, 2013), and decreasing evaporation (McIntyre et al, 2000;Sas-Paszt et al, 2014). Chakraborty et al (2010) found that organic mulches had better soil water status and improved plant canopy in terms of biomass, root growth, leaf area index, and grain yield, which subsequently resulted in higher water and nitrogen uptake and their use efficiencies.…”

Soil Atterberg limits of different weathering profiles of the collapsing gullies in the hilly granitic region of southern China

“…Soil degradation by processes such as soil erosion, shallow landslides and debris flows is a significant problem in mountainous areas, and is a crucial issue for natural hazard assessment in these areas (Jordán et al, 2014;Moreno-Ramón et al, 2014;Peng et al, 2015;Stanchi et al, 2015;Muñoz-Rojas et al, 2016a). A collapsing gully is a serious type of soil erosion widely distributed in the hilly granitic region of southern China, which is formed in the hill slopes covered by thick granite weathering mantle (Xu, 1996).…”