Use of RUSLE for Soil Loss Prediction During Different Growth Periods

Almas, M. Amjed Siddique; Jamal, Tahir

doi:10.3923/pjbs.2000.118.121

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…USLE and its modifications were developed in the Midwestern United States and should ideally be evaluated against soil erosion measurements when used for other agroenvironmental zones (Evans and Boardman, 2016). However, the uneven distribution of field data around the world, the lack of long-term soil measurements in most global regions and the great variability of the designs of erosion rate measurements hamper the evaluation of global soil loss estimates derived from models (Auerswald et al, 2004;Borrelli et al, 2017;García-Ruiz et al, 2015). In addition, model input data on topography, soil properties and land use are often aggregated over large areas; thus, simulation results cannot be directly compared to single field measurements at specific locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global gridded crop model

et al. 2020

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Abstract. Water erosion on arable land can reduce soil fertility and agricultural productivity. Despite the impact of water erosion on crops, it is typically neglected in global crop yield projections. Furthermore, previous efforts to quantify global water erosion have paid little attention to the effects of field management on the magnitude of water erosion. In this study, we analyse the robustness of simulated water erosion estimates in maize and wheat fields between the years 1980 and 2010 based on daily model outputs from a global gridded version of the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) crop model. By using the MUSS water erosion equation and country-specific and environmental indicators determining different intensities in tillage, residue handling and cover crops, we obtained the global median water erosion rates of 7 t ha−1 a−1 in maize fields and 5 t ha−1 a−1 in wheat fields. A comparison of our simulation results with field data demonstrates an overlap of simulated and measured water erosion values for the majority of global cropland. Slope inclination and daily precipitation are key factors in determining the agreement between simulated and measured erosion values and are the most critical input parameters controlling all water erosion equations included in EPIC. The many differences between field management methods worldwide, the varying water erosion estimates from different equations and the complex distribution of cropland in mountainous regions add uncertainty to the simulation results. To reduce the uncertainties in global water erosion estimates, it is necessary to gather more data on global farming techniques to reduce the uncertainty in global land-use maps and to collect more data on soil erosion rates representing the diversity of environmental conditions where crops are grown.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global gridded crop model

et al. 2020

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Spatial and temporal estimation of soil loss for the sustainable management of a wet semi-arid watershed cluster

Rejani

Rao

Osman

et al. 2016

Environ Monit Assess

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The ungauged wet semi-arid watershed cluster, Seethagondi, lies in the Adilabad district of Telangana in India and is prone to severe erosion and water scarcity. The runoff and soil loss data at watershed, catchment, and field level are necessary for planning soil and water conservation interventions. In this study, an attempt was made to develop a spatial soil loss estimation model for Seethagondi cluster using RUSLE coupled with ARCGIS and was used to estimate the soil loss spatially and temporally. The daily rainfall data of Aphrodite for the period from 1951 to 2007 was used, and the annual rainfall varied from 508 to 1351 mm with a mean annual rainfall of 950 mm and a mean erosivity of 6789 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) year(-1). Considerable variation in land use land cover especially in crop land and fallow land was observed during normal and drought years, and corresponding variation in the erosivity, C factor, and soil loss was also noted. The mean value of C factor derived from NDVI for crop land was 0.42 and 0.22 in normal year and drought years, respectively. The topography is undulating and major portion of the cluster has slope less than 10°, and 85.3% of the cluster has soil loss below 20 t ha(-1) year(-1). The soil loss from crop land varied from 2.9 to 3.6 t ha(-1) year(-1) in low rainfall years to 31.8 to 34.7 t ha(-1) year(-1) in high rainfall years with a mean annual soil loss of 12.2 t ha(-1) year(-1). The soil loss from crop land was higher in the month of August with an annual soil loss of 13.1 and 2.9 t ha(-1) year(-1) in normal and drought year, respectively. Based on the soil loss in a normal year, the interventions recommended for 85.3% of area of the watershed includes agronomic measures such as contour cultivation, graded bunds, strip cropping, mixed cropping, crop rotations, mulching, summer plowing, vegetative bunds, agri-horticultural system, and management practices such as broad bed furrow, raised sunken beds, and harvesting available water using farm ponds and percolation tanks. This methodology can be adopted for estimating the soil loss from similar ungauged watersheds with deficient data and for planning suitable soil and water conservation interventions for the sustainable management of the watersheds.

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Soil erosion in the humid tropics: A systematic quantitative review

Labrière

Locatelli

Laumonier

et al. 2015

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

292

129

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As Healthy soils provide a wide range of ecosystem services. But soil erosion (one component of land degradation) jeopardizes the sustainable delivery of these services worldwide, and particularly in the humid tropics where erosion potential is high due to heavy rainfall. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment pointed out the role of poor land-use and management choices in increasing land degradation. We hypothesized that land use has a limited influence on soil erosion provided vegetation cover is developed enough or good management practices are implemented. We systematically reviewed the literature to study how soil and vegetation management influence soil erosion control in the humid tropics. More than 3600 measurements of soil loss from 55 references covering 21 countries were compiled. Quantitative analysis of the collected data revealed that soil erosion in the humid tropics is dramatically concentrated in space (over landscape elements of bare soil) and time (e.g. during crop rotation). No land use is erosion-prone per se, but creation of bare soil elements in the landscape through particular land uses and other human activities (e.g. skid trails and logging roads) should be avoided as much as possible. Implementation of sound practices of soil and vegetation management (e.g. contour planting, no-till farming and use of vegetative buffer strips) can reduce erosion by up to 99%. With limited financial and technical means, natural resource managers and policy makers can therefore help decrease soil loss at a large scale by promoting wise management of highly erosion-prone landscape elements and enhancing the use of low-erosion-inducing practices. (Résumé d'auteur

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Use of RUSLE for Soil Loss Prediction During Different Growth Periods

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global gridded crop model

Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global gridded crop model

Spatial and temporal estimation of soil loss for the sustainable management of a wet semi-arid watershed cluster

Soil erosion in the humid tropics: A systematic quantitative review

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