Record Details

Tillage impact on soil erosion by water: Discrepancies due to climate and soil characteristics

MELSpace

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Tillage impact on soil erosion by water: Discrepancies due to climate and soil characteristics
 
Creator Mhazo, N.
 
Contributor Chivenge, Pauline
Chaplot, Vincent
 
Subject runoff coefficient
no-tillage
sediment concentration
 
Description No-tillage (NT) is promoted for soil and water conservation, but research
findings on overland
flow and
soil erosion are inconsistent across different ecosystems, with some studies showing no benefits of NT
over conventional tillage (CT). A global literature review was conducted to quantify the impact of NT on
water runoff, sediment concentration and soil losses. The objective was to identify the underlying causes
of the variability in the performance of NT across different environments. Data from 282 paired NT and CT
runoff plots from 41 research studies worldwide were analysed using meta-analysis and principal
component analysis (PCA). Sediment concentration and soil losses were 56 and 60% lower under NT than
CT, respectively. These tended to be greater under CT than NT on long plots (90% for sediment
concentration and 94% for soil losses) and steepest slopes (79 and 77%, respectively). Greater differences
in sediment concentration and soil losses between NT and CT were observed in low clay soils and under
temperate climates. While on average there were no differences on runoff coefficient, NT decreased
runoff coefficient by about 40% compared to CT in mulched soils, under cool climate (5 years. Overall, the results indicated that NT has greater potential to reduce runoff
and soil losses in temperate regions where soils of peri-glacial influence are relatively young, moderately
weathered and fragile compared to the heavily weathered clayey tropical soils that are well aggregated
and less erodible. The results of this study are expected to inform scientists, practitioners and policy
makers on the links between land management and soil functioning processes. Policy makers and
development implementers will be able to make informed choices of land management techniques for
effective NT implementation, for instance by having more mulch input under warm climates.
 
Date 2016-06-21
2017-02-08T23:10:15Z
2017-02-08T23:10:15Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://mel.cgiar.org/dspace/limited
http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/9810
N. Mhazo, Pauline Chivenge, Vincent Chaplot. (21/6/2016). Tillage impact on soil erosion by water: Discrepancies due to climate and soil characteristics. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 230, pp. 231-241.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/5598
Limited access
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-NC-4.0
 
Format PDF
 
Publisher Elsevier Masson
 
Source Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment;230,(2016) Pagination 231,241