Traffic and tillage effects on runoff and soil loss on the Loess Plateau of northern China
Xiaoyan Wang A , Huanwen Gao A , J. N. Tullberg B , Hongwen Li A D , Nikolaus Kuhn C , A. D. McHugh B and Yuxia Li BA Department of Agricultural Engineering, China Agricultural University, PO Box 46, Beijing 100083, China.
B School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia.
C Department of Physical Geography and Environmental Change, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Klingelberg str. 27, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
D Corresponding author. Email: lhwen@cau.edu.cn
Australian Journal of Soil Research 46(8) 667-675 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR08063
Submitted: 26 March 2008 Accepted: 13 October 2008 Published: 2 December 2008
Abstract
This paper reports the outcome of 5 years of field plot runoff monitoring, 2 years of water erosion measurement, and a rainfall simulation experiment on moderately sloping farmland on the loess plateau of north-west China. The objective was to test different conservation tillage systems compared with the control treatment, conventional mouldboard plough practice (CK). Tillage, residue cover, and compaction effects were assessed in terms of runoff and soil erosion.
Results from the runoff plots showed that conservation tillage, with more residue cover, less compaction, and less soil disturbance, could substantially reduce runoff and soil erosion compared with the control. No tillage with residue cover and no compaction produced the least runoff and soil erosion. Compared with the control, it reduced runoff and soil erosion by about 40% and 80%, respectively. At the start of the experiment, residue cover appeared to be the most important factor affecting soil and water conservation, particularly when antecedent soil moisture was limited. With the accumulation of tractor wheeling effects over the course of the experiment, soil compaction appeared to become a more important factor affecting runoff.
Rainfall simulation was then used to assess the effect of non-inverting surface tillage and different levels of residue cover and wheel compaction on infiltration and runoff. This confirmed that wheel compaction effects could be greater than those of tillage and residue cover, at least under the 82.5 mm/h rainfall rate produced by the simulator. The wheeling effect was particularly large when the treatment was applied to wet soil, and severe even after wheeling by small tractors.
Additional keywords: conservation tillage, runoff, rainfall simulation, water erosion, residue cover, surface tillage, compaction, controlled traffic.
Acknowledgements
This research was a joint activity of China Agricultural University and the University of Queensland, supported under ACIAR project ‘LWR2/96/143 Sustainable Mechanized Grain Production’.
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