Influence of soil conservation practices on runoff and soil loss in the selected plantations of Western Ghats of Karnataka.

摘要

Monitoring of runoff and soil loss was conducted in the typical plantation systems of Western Ghats from 1995 to 2009. Runoff and soil loss from the representative plantation systems of cardamom (P₁), mixed plantations (P₂), coffee (P₃) and natural vegetation (P₄) were monitored with the help of 30 cm H-flume and stage level recorders after delin-eating them in their natural configuration. The observations proved the effectiveness of natural and adopted cultivation practices in all the plantation systems in controlling runoff and soil loss in spite of the extreme climatic and topographic factors. Mean runoff and soil loss in P₁ and P₂ were extremly low. However, uncultivated area inside permitted enormous mean runoff 257 mm and soil loss 11.47 tonnes/ha in P₁ and 12.6 mm and 0.19 tonnes/ha respectively in P₂. Soil conservation practices of staggered catch pits followed at the grids with 2 m spacing in the P₂ and continuous trench systems in P₃ across the slope between crop rows provided an additional capacity for the system to hold 25.5 mm and 101.25 mm runoff respectively. Growth of vegetation in the natural vegetation system over the years due to non interference reduced the runoff and soil erosion to traces.