Impact of Reservoir Tillage on Water Intake and Soil Erosion

Hackwell, S. G.; Rochester, Eugene W.; Yoo, Kyung H.; Burt, E. C.; Monroe, G. E.

doi:10.13031/2013.31681

Cited by 19 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Our results suggest that compared with the control treatment under certain conditions, RT not only reduced soil erosion but also increased the sediment by more than 90%. This result is somewhat different from the conclusions of the role of RT in soil and water conservation in previous studies (Hackwell et al, ; Patrick et al, ; Salem et al, ). For example, Salem et al () pointed out that RT could reduce soil erosion and surface runoff.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 96%

“…Reservoir tillage (RT) is a rainwater harvesting tillage technique in which numerous small surface depressions are formed to hold and collect rainwater during rainfall events to improve soil water (Hackwell, Rochester, Yoo, Burt, & Monroe, 1991;Patrick, Kechavarzi, James, Dogherty, & Godwin, 2007). Because the rainwater retained in depressions delays surface runoff generation and improves the availability of water to infiltrate soil, another important role of RT in rainfall processes is to decrease soil erosion on sloping land (Salem, Valero, Angel Muñoz, Gil-Rodríguez, & Barreiro, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surface microrelief changes affect the soil and water conservation benefits of rainwater harvesting tillage operation during rainfall events

Zhao

Hou

2019

Hydrological Processes

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Reservoir tillage (RT) improves the soil rainwater harvesting capacity and reduces soil erosion on cropland, but there is some debate regarding its effectiveness. The objective of this study was to further verify the effect of RT on soil erosion and explore the reasons for this effect by analysing microrelief changes during rainfall. Rainfall intensities of 60, 90, and 120 mm/hr and three slope degrees (5, 15, and 25°, representing gentle, medium, and steep slopes) were considered. A smooth surface (SS) served as the control. The microrelief changes were determined based on digital elevation models, which were measured using a laser scanner with a 2‐cm grid before and after rainfall events. The results showed that compared with the values for the SS, RT reduced both the runoff and sediment by approximately 10‐20% on the gentle slope; on the medium slope, although RT also reduced the runoff in the 90‐ and 120‐mm/hr intensity rainfall events, the sediment increased by 158.90% and 246.08%; on the steep slope, the sediment increased by 92.33 to 296.47%. Overall, when the runoff control benefit of RT was lower than 5%, there was no sediment control benefit. RT was effective at controlling soil loss on the gentle slopes but was not effective on the medium and steep slopes. This is because the surface depressions created by RT were filled in with sediment that eroded from the upslopes, and the surface microrelief became smoother, which then caused greater soil and water loss than that on an SS at the later rainfall stage.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface microrelief changes affect the soil and water conservation benefits of rainwater harvesting tillage operation during rainfall events

Zhao

Hou

2019

Hydrological Processes

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“…Reservoir tillage is an alternative method defined by Hackwell et al (1991) and Rochester et al (1994) as a system in which numerous small surface depressions are formed to collect and hold water during rainfall or irrigation to prevent surface run-off. However, currently, reservoir tillage is used predominantly for soil erosion control in environments with higher annual but lower intensity rainfall than semi-arid environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing reservoir tillage technology for semi‐arid environments

Patrick

Kechavarzi

James

et al. 2007

Soil Use and Management

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Arable farming on suitable land in semi‐arid environments is hampered by low and erratic rainfall and droughts. To use this land effectively, techniques, such as water harvesting may improve soil water storage and increase agricultural productivity. Laboratory experiments were conducted to assess two reservoir tillage methods under different slopes, rainfall intensities and soil densities. A commercial trailed tillage tool (Aqueel) was used to form discrete soil depressions by compression of the soil and a soil scooping device with similar dimensions was used to make depressions in shear by lifting the soil out. The results show that, for the sandy loam used in this study, reservoir tillage is an effective method of harvesting water under high‐intensity rainfall of short duration common in semi‐arid areas. It reduced surface run‐off by 95% on 10° slopes when depressions were staggered and positioned with their long axis across slope. However, high initial soil bulk densities lead to a significant reduction in the volume of the depressions formed in compression and to internal compaction. Increasing vertical load on the Aqueel resulted in an increase in depression volume without an increase in internal compaction but at high bulk densities the depression volumes remained small and high implement load damaged the depression function and stability. This suggests a need for a pre‐loosening tillage operation for compacted soils and the need to design new implements to form depressions in shear.

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“…Besides enhancing infiltration 42 and soil moisture storage (Kahlon et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2013), it technologies that use rainwater more efficiently are needed. 48 An alternative method to in-situ rainwater harvesting and 49 conservation tillage is reservoir tillage, which has been defined as a 50 system in which numerous small surface depressions are formed to 51 collect and hold water during rainfall or irrigation to prevent 52 surface runoff (Hackwell et al, 1991;Rochester et al, 1994;Patrick 53 et al, 2007;Salem et al, 2014 ridging (Hackwell et al, 1991;Wiyo et al, 2000;Brhane et al, 61 2006; Nuti et al, 2009 the major initial obstacles (Chen et al, 2005). The long-term benefit 119 from conservation tillage cannot be achieved easily, unless producers 120 see that the system works in a short term (Chen et al, 2005 The spiked roller was designed to fit the modified seeder.…”

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confidence: 99%