Effects of soil management techniques on soil water erosion in apricot orchards

Abstract

Soil erosion is extreme in Mediterranean orchards due to management impact, high rainfall intensities, steep slopes and erodible parent material. Vall d'Albaida is a traditional fruit production area which, due to the Mediterranean climate and marly soils, produces sweet fruits. However, these highly productive soils are left bare under the prevailing land management and marly soils are vulnerable to soil water erosion when left bare. In this paper we study the impact of different agricultural land management strategies on soil properties (bulk density, soil organic matter, soil moisture), soil water erosion and runoff, by means of simulated rainfall experiments and soil analyses. Three representative land managements (tillage/herbicide/covered with vegetation) were selected, where 20 paired plots (60 plots) were established to determine soil losses and runoff. The simulated rainfall was carried out at 55 mm h-1 in the summer of 2013 (<8% soil moisture) for one hour on 0.25 m2 circular plots. The results showed that vegetation cover, soil moisture and organic matter were significantly higher in covered plots than in tilled and herbicide treated plots. However, runoff coefficient, total runoff, sediment yield and soil erosion were significantly higher in herbicide treated plots compared to the others. Runoff sediment concentration was significantly higher in tilled plots. The lowest values were identified in covered plots. Overall, tillage, but especially herbicide treatment, decreased vegetation cover, soil moisture, soil organic matter, and increased bulk density, runoff coefficient, total runoff, sediment yield and soil erosion. Soil erosion was extremely high in herbicide plots with 0.91 Mg ha-1 h-1 of soil lost; in the tilled fields erosion rates were lower with 0.51 Mg ha-1 h-1. Covered soil showed an erosion rate of 0.02 Mg ha-1 h-1. These results showed that agricultural management influenced water and sediment dynamics and that tillage and herbicide treatment should be avoided

Temporal stability of electrical conductivity in a sandy soil

“…In areas with weakly developed soils, such as the Setenil region, the rugged relief often leads to partial loss of the topsoil layer (Ibañez et al, 2015;Symeonakis et al, 2014). This is a natural process aggravated by certain agricultural practices (eg tillage) (Gómez et al, 2009;Keesstra et al, 2016;Taguas and Gómez, 2015;Vanwalleghem et al, 2011), leading to outcropping of the bedrock and to the appearance of localised zones where the humus-rich horizon rarely exceeds 0.1 m. The climate is Mediterranean, with a mean annual precipitation of 700 mm, where 75% of the rainfall occurs from October to May. The grove is under minimum tillage and weeds are controlled with chemical herbicides.…”

Prediction of soil and water conservation structure impacts on runoff and erosion processes using SWAT model in the northern Ethiopian highlands

“…The degradation of agricultural land as a result of soil erosion is a worldwide phenomenon leading to the loss of nutrientrich surface soil and increased runoff from the more impermeable sub-soil that leads to the lowering of agricultural productivity (Erkossa et al 2015;Taguas et al 2015;Ganasri and Ramesh 2015;Keesstra et al 2016;Nigussie et al 2017). Soil erosion is more severe in the sub-Saharan African countries where the population livelihood is dependent on the soil (Sunday et al 2012;Erkossa et al 2015).…”

Rainfall simulation and Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry for the analysis of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards

“…Extreme rainfall events that occur in the Mediterranean area are able to cause significant soil water erosion processes, especially when no protective material covers the soil ( Fig. 1) (Bisantino et al, 2015;Keesstra et al, 2016;Novara et al, 2016;Prosdocimi et al, 2016c). However, to reduce the high soil erosion rates, more conservation-minded soil management practices have also been used such as mulching (Cerdà et al, 2015;Costantini et al, 2015;Jordán et al, 2011;Prosdocimi et al, 2016bProsdocimi et al, , 2016c, cover crops (Novara et al, 2011), rock fragments (Blavet et al, 2009), natural grassing (Grimaldi et al, 2015;Mekonnen et al, 2015a;Mekuria et al, 2016;Raclot et al, 2009) and geotextiles (Giménez Morera et al, 2010;Mekonnen et al, 2015b;Mengistu et al, 2016).…”