MANAGEMENT OF TEA LANDS THROUGH 'SLOPING AGRICULTURAL LAND TECHNOLOGY' (SALT)

摘要

Tea lands are susceptible to erosion when the soil cover is inadequate. Since soil loss is inevitable with mechanical methods of soil conservation, investigations on Sloping agricultural land technology (SALT) were initiated in 1992. SALT is a packagetechnology on soil conservation and crop production. Investigations consisted basically on establishment of hedgerows, selection of suitable species, spacing, effects on soil fertility, growth and yield of tea and competition between hedgerows and tea.Results have shown that Flemingia congesta and Calliandra calothrysus are the most suitable species for hedgerows, the optimum spacing was 7-8 m between hedgerows, best time to establish SALT was when planting rehabilitation grass or tea, and there was evidence to indicate improvements to soil chemical properties, growth and yield of tea.