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Long-term effect of integrated farming systems on soil erosion in hilly micro-watersheds (Indian Eastern Himalayas)

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Title Long-term effect of integrated farming systems on soil erosion in hilly micro-watersheds (Indian Eastern Himalayas)
Not Available
 
Creator Burhan U. Choudhury
Grace Nengzouzam
Satyabrata Mandal
Bira K. Sethy; Samarendra Hazarika; Vinay K. Mishra
 
Subject hilly micro-watershed, integrated farming system, land degradation, soil erosion, sustainable hill agriculture
 
Description Research article
Soil erosion from traditional hill agriculture is a major concern for agronomic development
in the Eastern Himalayas (India). An integrated farming system (IFS: is the combination
of multipurpose trees-MPT interspersed with seasonal agricultural crops) may
reduce the severity of erosion while ensuring food and nutritional security. The aim of
our study was to identify an IFS, resistant to soil erosion in the hill ecosystem of Eastern
Himalaya. For this, eight micro-watershed (MW)-based IFSs namely livestock with
fodder crops (MW1), forestry (MW2), agroforestry (MW3), agriculture (MW4), agrihorti-
silvi-pastoral (MW5), horticulture (MW6), cultivated fallow (MW7), and abandoned
shifting cultivation (MW8, as traditional land use) were established and soil erosion was
measured for 24 years in the sloping land (32.0%–53.0%) of the Eastern Himalayas
(Meghalaya, Northeast India). In the forests (MW2), annual average (IA: 1983–2006)
runoff and soil losses were 405.5 (±113) mm and 11.0 (±2.4) Mg ha 1 yr 1, respectively.
The conversion of forests to cultivation caused a decline in the parameters of
hydro-physical quality and fertility, more severely in the traditional farming (MW7&8)
than in the IFS mode of cultivation (MW3,5,&6). Soil water conservation measures
(SWCMs: contour bunding, terracing, and grassed waterways) were more effective at
reducing erosion when used together compared to individually. Adoption of these
SWCMs in cultivated MWs in IFS mode (MW3,5,&6), reduced the runoff by 13.0%–
17.1% and soil loss by 12.6%–15.1% over forests (MW2). However, in traditional agriculture
(MW7&8), runoff increased by 50.6%–87.6% while soil loss was 50.3%–59.8%
higher over the forest. The study demonstrated that the adoption of agroforestry, agrisilvi-
horti-pastoral or horticulture-based IFSs with appropriate SWCMs may be promoted
to reduce soil erosion while sustaining soil quality attributes and food security
in the hill ecosystem of the Indian Eastern Himalayas.
Not Available
 
Date 2024-02-09T17:36:56Z
2024-02-09T17:36:56Z
2022-06-10
 
Type Article
 
Identifier Not Available
Online ISSN:1099-145X Print ISSN:1085-3278
http://krishi.icar.gov.in/jspui/handle/123456789/81347
 
Language English
 
Relation Not Available;
 
Publisher Wiley