Impact of Land Configuration and Strip-Intercropping on Runoff, Soil Loss and Crop Yields under Rainfed Conditions in the Shivalik Foothills of North-West, India

Abstract

Maintaining sustainable crop production on undulating, sloppy, and erodible soils in Shivalik foothills of North-west India is a challenging task. Intercropping is accepted as a highly sustainable system to reduce soil erosion and ensure sustainable production by making efficient use of resources. Field experiments were conducted in the rainy season (July to September) during 2015, 2016, and 2017 to evaluate the effect of land slopes and maize and cowpea strip-intercropping on productivity and resource conservation at the Regional Research Station, Ballowal Saunkhri located in the Shivalik foothills. During three years of experimentation, a total of 23–26 runoff events were observed in the maize crop grown in the rainy season. The results from this 3-year field study indicate that maize grain yield was significantly higher on a 1% slope and cowpea on a 2% slope. This accounted for significantly higher net returns (US$ 428 ha−1) with a benefit-cost (BC) ratio of 2.0 on a 1% slope. Runoff, soil, and nutrient losses were higher on a 3% slope as compared to 1% and 2% slopes. N, P, and K loss on a 3% slope were 3.80, 1.82, and 4.10 kg ha−1 higher, respectively than a 1% slope. The adoption of a strip-intercropping system with a 4.8 m maize strip width and 1.2 m cowpea strip width resulted in significantly higher maize equivalent yield than sole maize and other strip-intercropping systems. This system showed the highest land equivalent ratio value (1.24) indicating a 24% yield advantage over sole cropping systems of maize and cowpea, and fetched the highest net returns (US$ 530 ha−1) with a benefit-cost ratio (BC ratio) of 2.09. This system also reduced runoff and soil loss by 10.9% and 8.3%, respectively than sole maize crop. On all the land slopes, maize and cowpea strip-intercropping systems showed a significant reduction in N, P, K, and organic carbon loss as compared to sole maize. Thus, on sloping land, the maize and cowpea strip-intercropping system decreases surface runoff, soil, and nutrient loss, and increases yield and income of the farmers as compared to a sole maize crop.

Simulation Accuracy of EROSION-3D Model for Estimation of Runoff and Sediment Yield from Micro-Watersheds

“…At the commencement of the monsoon season, the area under moong and mash cultivation was found to be erosion prone. However, in the later stages, mash and moong proved to be beneficial in controlling soil erosion which may be attributed to the fact that the mash and moong quickly establish a good canopy cover which dissipates the rainfall impact thereby resulting in lower runoff and soil erosion [41]. Nemetova & Kohnova [42] also observed the maximum soil loss from scenario of fallow land.…”

Keyline in Bean Crop (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) for Soil and Water Conservation

“…However, in the area with the HKD, the tillage pattern with the keyline stops the flow of water coming from the slope and leads and distributes it over the infrastructure of furrows as described by Gras [9]. Khokhar et al [22], found that different slopes affect the yield, when intercropped between corn and copui, where, the higher the slope, the greater the loss of soil, so if the HKD is used, these slopes would not affect the overall yield.For their part, Jadhav et al [23] implemented HKD to establish a green barrier crop with the legume Leucaena (Subabool) and found that the system reduced runoff and soil erosion and increased moisture content in cultivated fields.…”