Effects of minimum soil disturbance practices on controlling water erosion in China's slope farmland: A meta‐analysis

Abstract

Slope farmlands are commonly found in China, and soil loss from slope farmland is the main source of river sediment. Minimum soil disturbance practices were considered effectively in controlling water erosion, especially on slope farmlands. Although their beneficial effects have been universally recognized, further research is still needed to quantify the extent of minimum soil disturbance practices in reducing runoff and sediment yield. We present a quantitative review based on a nationwide meta‐analysis, including 536 runoff and 615 sediment‐paired observations, to evaluate the effectiveness of minimum soil disturbance practices in controlling water erosion in China. Minimum soil disturbance practices in China reduced runoff and sediment yield by 36.09% and 51.69%, respectively. Collecting soil to form ridges with no‐tillage, contour tillage with hedgerow, and micro‐basins tillage demonstrated significantly greater (p < 0.05) runoff and sediment yield reductions than other three practices (no‐tillage, no‐tillage with mulch, and contour tillage). Practices that change in soil properties by microtopography management were superior (p < 0.05) to practices that change soil properties without tillage in reducing runoff and sediment yield. Minimum soil disturbance practices are more effective in reducing sediment yield than runoff due to its additional effects besides reducing runoff directly. No correlations between runoff or sediment yield reduction and slope gradient were observed, whereas the efficiency of water erosion control by minimum soil disturbance practices increased with the increasing slope length. As a soil and water conservation measure, minimum soil disturbance practices can be applied in slope farmland of China.

Effects of soil and water conservation management and rainfall types on runoff and soil loss for a sloping area in North China

“…We also used all variables to predict RO and SL through stepwise linear regression. Runoff reduction (Rr) and soil loss reduction (Sr) were calculated as follows (Jia et al, ): where R SM is the runoff (mm) from soil and water conservation management conditions; R NS is the runoff (mm) from the NS; SL SM is the soil loss (t/km 2 ) from soil and water conservation management condition; and SL NS is the soil loss (t/km 2 ) from the NS;…”

Benefit Evaluation of Water and Soil Conservation Measures in Shendong Based on Particle Swarm Optimization and the Analytic Hierarchy Process

“…The study area is in the Loess Plateau, which is also the area with frequent rainstorms in summer. The runoff erosion on the slope is serious [67] and forms an important source of sediment in the Yellow River [68]. If the soil erosion is not controlled in time, serious ecological problems could occur [69], such as reduction of cultivated land, land degradation, water shortage and pollution, and reduction of biodiversity.…”

“…In addition to the above characteristics, the high-intensity coal mining in Shendong Mining Area has changed the surface morphology and vegetation ecology [33,70], and has intensified the phenomenon of soil erosion. Under the large-scale financial and technical support, the soil and water conservation work in Shendong Mining Area has achieved remarkable results [67,71]. Many years of soil and water conservation measures have alleviated the phenomenon of surface soil erosion caused by slope runoff.…”

“…In Shendong Mining Area, the intensive mining activities will inevitably affect and occupy farmers' land, and interfere with the original land surface, vegetation, and water in the mining area, resulting in the aggravation of soil erosion. Soil and water conservation in Shendong Mining Area of the Loess Plateau is mainly based on the micro geomorphic landscape transformation of slope reduction [67], which can lead to terraces suitable for planting and the ridges suitable for trees and grass, optimize the original land structure type [66,77]; improve land use efficiency [78] and create degradable biomaterials for slope cover [79], help make the area more conducive to vegetation growth [39,80], and reduce water and soil loss [3,75,78,[81][82][83]. An increase in forest and grass coverage not only needs favorable terrain conditions, but also requires appropriate plant species to be used for vegetation rehabilitation, as well as workers with mastery of the corresponding technologies to engage in reclamation.…”

Distribuição Da Precipitação E Ajuste De Modelos Probabilísticos Para Formoso, Mg

“…Alia-se ao fato que nessas regiões, predominam sistemas convencionais de produção com baixo aporte de palhada, ao contrário do verificado em sistemas conservacionistas do solo e água como o sistema plantio direto e integração lavoura pecuária e floresta. Nesses sistemas a presença de cobertura vegetal viva ou morta (palhada) modifica a dinâmica de água no solo permitindo maior eficiência do uso da mesma pela vegetação (BOHARA et al, 2019;JIA et al, 2019) . Agrega-se que na região do MATOPIBA, localizada entre os paralelos 0° e -20°, assiste-se à uma elevada evapotranspiração derivada de maior temperatura do ar e radiação solar (PEREIRA et al, 2018).…”