Straw Mulching Effect on Splash Erosion, Runoff, and Sediment Yield from Eroded Plots

Abstract

Land surface cover affects runoff generation and soil loss processes. Splash erosion occurs by the impact of raindrops on the soil surface. As a result of this process, raindrops detach soil particles, destroy soil structure, and finally, increase runoff and erosion. Amendments improve and reinforce soil aggregates and some physical barriers against raindrop impacts and runoff. The present research was an attempt to determine the efficiency of straw mulch applied at a rate of 0.5 g m−2 in changing the runoff commencement time, runoff amount, splash erosion, and sediment yield from eroded mid‐sized plots at different rainfall intensities under laboratory conditions. The research was conducted on a sandy loam soil taken from summer rangeland in the Alborz Mountains, northern Iran, with simulated rainfall intensities of 30, 50, 70, and 90 mm h−1 and a slope of 30% in three replicates. The collected data from 36 splash cups showed that the straw mulch played an effective role in reducing the splash erosion in both up and down directions, with the maximum reduction occurring at a rainfall intensity of 70 mm h−1. The results of the research also showed that the straw mulch had a significant effect in changing runoff and soil erosion characteristics at a confidence level of 99%. The maximum increase in runoff commencement time (110.10%) was observed for the rainfall intensity of 90 mm h−1. The runoff coefficient had a maximum reduction at rainfall intensities of 30 and 90 mm h−1. The maximum decrease in sediment yield (63.24%) also occurred at the rainfall intensity of 90 mm h−1.

Potential effects of vinasse as a soil amendment to control runoff and soil loss

“…The rainfall simulator consists of a 4000 L water tank and 27 precalibrated nozzles in three parallel lines designed to simulate raindrops of 1.3 mm average size. The drops fall from a height between 4 and 6 m at the upper and lower parts of the plot, respectively, reaching a speed of 7 m s −1 (Gholami et al, 2013;Sadeghi et al, 2015a, b (Hazbavi, 2013;Hazbavi et al, 2013;Sadeghi et al, 2014). A general view of the experimental setup is shown in Fig.…”

“…The collection gutter at the lower end of each box was protected by a shield to prevent rainfall from directly entering the collection container. The amount of soil loss was then measured using a decantation procedure: oven drying at 105 • C for 24 h and weighing by means of a high-precision scale (Gholami et al, 2013;Sadeghi et al, 2016). The runoff commencement and cessation times were also recorded.…”

“…The application of animal, industrial, and municipal wastes is also prevalent throughout the world as they can be an excellent source of nutrients and organic matter (Bhattarai et al, 2011). Several studies have evaluated the effects of composted organic wastes such as animal manure and sewage sludge compost on soil properties, quality, and productivity, dissolved or-72 Z. Hazbavi and S. H. R. Sadeghi: Potential effects of vinasse as a soil amendment ganic carbon and nitrate leaching (e.g., Adler and Sikora, 2005;Margesin et al, 2006;Bastida et al, 2007;Karami et al, 2012;Zornoza et al, 2013;Eykelbosh et al, 2015), but there are relatively few studies (e.g., Gonzalez, 2006b, 2008;Gholami et al, 2013;Sadeghi et al, 2015a, b;Cerdà et al, 2016;Prosdocimi et al, 2016) that evaluate the effect of organic waste and residues on runoff and soil loss control.…”

The immediate effectiveness of barley straw mulch in reducing soil erodibility and surface runoff generation in Mediterranean vineyards

“…Mulching involves maintaining a permanent or semi-permanent protective cover on the soil surface that can be composed of different materials such as vegetative residues, biological geotextiles, gravel and crushed stones (Cerdà, 2001;Gilley et al, 1986;Jordán et al, 2010;Mandal and Sharda, 2013;Smets et al, 2008;Xu et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2013). The beneficial effects of mulching can be summarized as follows: i) increased water intake and storage (Cook et al, 2006;Mulumba and Lal, 2008), ii) protection of soil against raindrop impact, reducing erosion rates (Blavet et al, 2009;Jordán et al, 2010;Sadeghi et al, 2015a), iii) decreased sediment and nutrient concentrations in runoff (Cerdà, 1998;Gholami et al, 2013;Poesen and Lavee, 1991), iv) decreased runoff generation rates and surface flow velocity by increasing roughness (Cerdà, 2001;Jordán et al, 2010), v) improved infiltration capacity (Jordán et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2014), vi) increased activity of some species of earthworms and crop performance (Wooldridge and Harris, 1991), vii) enhanced soil physical conditions such as soil structure and organic content (De Silva and Cook, 2003;Jordán et al, 2010;Karami et al, 2012), viii) reduced topsoil temperature for more optimum germination and root development (Dahiya et al, 2007;Riddle et al, 1996) and decreased evaporation (Uson and Cook, 1995), and xix) enhanced interactions with nutrients (Campiglia et al, 2014;Movahedi Naeni and Cook, 2000). Among the different types of mulching, straw mulch is considered one of the most effective in achieving the above-mentioned benefits (Blavet et al, 2009;Dahiya et al, 2007).…”

The impact of standard preparation practice on the runoff and soil erosion rates under laboratory conditions

“…The time of fifth sample was exactly coincident with the time the rain had stopped; then all the remained runoff was collected as the final sixth sample. The samples were transferred to the laboratory, and sediment concentration was measured using the decantation procedure and oven-dried at 105 • C for 24 h (Gholami et al, 2013). …”