Soil Erosion & Cultivation Practices

1he S|gn|f|cance of So|| Lros|on Land Degradat|on

O During the past half century - alone - human land use and
associated activities have degraded some five billion hectares, or
about 43% of the Earths vegetated land.
4 This land degradation results in reduced productive potential
and diminished capacity.
4 Land degradation is also linked to other processes, such as
desertification, in this case, cause by the over-grazing by
cattle, sheep, and goats.
4 The two main components of land degradation - damage to
plant communities and deterioration of soil - are linked.
4 Some of these activities take place at the macro-scale -
climate change for example - and as such are often beyond
the control of individuals or communities.
4 However, there are also significant impacts due to the actions
of individuals that can be corrected.
O The two main forms of erosion of wind and rain. It is also a function
of the types of materials making up the regolith.
4 Erosion is a process that transforms soil into sediment.
4 It does occur naturally. This is termed geological erosion.
4 It is a natural leveling process.
4 In most settings, geological erosion wears down the land
slowly enough that new soil forms from the underlying
regolith faster than the old soil is lost.
4 ccelerated erosion occurs when people disturb the soil or
the natural vegetation by grazing livestock, cutting forests,
plowing hillsides, or tearing up land for construction.
4 Accelerated erosion is often 10 to 1,000 times as destructive
as geological erosion.
4 Rates of erosion by wind and water on agricultural lands in
Africa, Asia, and South America is estimated to be 30 to 40
Mg/ha annually. North American estimates are around 12
Mg/ha.
nS|te ffS|te Lffects of Acce|erated Lros|on
O Erosion can lead to serious environmental impacts both on-site and
off-site.
4 On-site impacts focus on the loss of the soil itself.
4 The surface horizons are the ones generally lost through
erosion while the sub0surface horizons are often untouched.
4 The quality of the remaining topsoil is also impaired.
4 Off-site damages are generally seen as water pollution
problems. These can be divided into two groupings:
Process of eutrophication due to excessive nutrient (N &
P) run-off into the watershed as well as toxic metals
and organic compounds (pesticides).
Sedimentation itself that results in high levels of water
cloudiness or turbidity. This prevents sunlight from
penetrating the water, reducing photosynthesis, and
survival of submerged aquatic vegetation that, in turn,
degrades fish habitat and upsets the aquatic ecosystem.
O Wind erosion can also have serious off-site effects.
4 At a pragmatic level, blowing dust and sand can bury roads
and fill drainage ditches. It can also damage facilities and
buildings through its sand-blasting effect.
4 It can also impact on human health. The finest particles blow
the farthest and remain suspended in the air for long periods
of time. This is known as particulate materials and fugitive
dust. People inhale this and can develop severe lung damage.
O Although no precise data exists, the cost of erosion in North
America has been estimated to range between:
4 $4-27 billion annual for on-site costs
4 $5-17 billion annual for off-site costs
So||Loss 1o|erance
O Earth is amazingly resilient. It can rebound from terrible abuse and
miss-use - if given the chance. But this requires time, sometimes
long periods of time.
4 Some loss of soil can be tolerated,
4 This is defined as being the maximum amount of soil that can
be lost annually by the combination of water and wind erosion
on a particular soil without degrading the soils long-term
productivity.
4 This commonly ranges from 5 Mg/ha to 11 Mg/ha.
4 This does, however, depend upon the soil quality and
management factors - soil depth, organic matter content, use
of water-control practices.
4 At 11 Mg/ha, you are losing about 0.9 mm of soil depth
annually, a rate at which it would take 225 years to lose the
equivalent of an entire plough layer (15cm)
4 &nder good management systems, this can be replaced
naturally.
,echan|cs of Water Lros|on
O Water erosion constitutes much of the erosion.
4 This involves a three-step process:
Detachment of soil particles from the soil mass
primarily by raindrops.
Transportation of the detached particles downhill by
flowing, rolling, dragging, and splashing.
Deposition of the transported materials at some lower
elevation.
4 Raindrops, while beautiful, are incredibly destructive.
4 Larger raindrops can reach a terminal velocity of 30km/hr. At
that speed, they have an explosive force as they transfer
their kinetic energy to soil particles.
4 Raindrops detach soil, destroys granulation, and its splash
causes an appreciable transportation of soil materials
O Transportation of soil particles occurs principally in two manners.
4 irst, there is the impact of raindrops, as just mentioned.
4 On a soil subject to easy detachment (what might the
conditions for this be?), a very heavy rain may splash as
much as 225 Mg/ha of soil, some of these particles being
thrown as high as 0.7m into the air and as far away as 2m.
4 Second, there is the flow of surface water.
4 Runoff pays the major role in the transportation of soil
particles.
4 If the rainfall exceeds the soils rate infiltration, OR if the
amount of rainfall has led to the soil becoming saturated, the
water will pool on the surface and will run downslope.
O Three types of water erosion are recognized:
4 $eet - splashed soil particles are removed more or less
uniformly from an area of land (a field)
4 #ill - are channels small enough to be smoothed over by
normal tillage practices but the damage is already done (soil
ahs been lost)
4 :lly - when large channels are formed leading to severe
erosion.
4 Eroded soils can be transported thousands of kilometers or it
may travel only a meter of two before coming to rest in a
slight depression in a field.
4 The amount of soil delivered to a stream divided by the
amount eroded is called the delivery ratio.
onservat|on 1|||age
O During the last three or so decades, two technological
developments have allowed many farmers to better manage their
source resources through greatly reduced tillage: new equipment
couple with advances in herbicides.
4 There are several forms of conservation tillage. Each,
however, leave significant amounts of organic matter on the
soil surface after planting.
4 ive forms of conservation tillage are:
o-till - soil is undisturbed prior to planting, which is
limited to narrow seedbeds (2.5-7.5cm wide).
#idge till - soil is undisturbed prior to planting which is
done on ridges 10 to 15cm higher than row middles.
$trip till - soil is undisturbed prior to planting, narrow
or shallow tillage in row using rotary tiller or in-row
chisel; up to one-third of soil surface is tilled at planting
time.
:lc till - soil surface disturbed prior to planting B&T
at least 30% residues are left on or near surface.
#ed:ced till - any other tillage and planting system
that keeps at least 30% of residues on the surface.
O Conservation tillage seeks to minimize the number of passes made
on a field.
4 This is because every pass with heavy machinery - does
what?
4 The conventional moldboard plough was designed to leave the
fields `clean - free of surface residue.
4 Conservation tillage systems, on the other hand, seek to
leave as much on the surface as possible.
4 This is done to retain the integrity of the soil.
4 Studies show that yields using conservation tillage systems
are as high - and in some instances - higher than those when
conventional systems are used.
4 HOWEVER, during the transition from conventional tillage to
no-tillage, crop yields may decline slightly for several years.
O Why this decrease? There are several reasons.
4 irst, there are short-term impacts on soil properties/ these
changes are most pronounced in the upper few centimeters of
soil.
4 Macroporosity and aggregation are increased due to the
increases in organic matter and as earthworms and other
organisms establish themselves. However, it can also lead to
increased leaching of nutrients AND because soils higher in
surface organic matter are generally wetter and cooler,
germination may be delayed.
4 Chemical properties are affected. During the initial four to six
years of no-till management, the buildup of organic matter
results in the immobilization of nutrients, especially N. this is
in contrast to the mineralization of nutrients that is
encouraged by the decline of soil organic matter under
conventional tillage.
4 Eventually when soil organic matter stabilizes at a new higher
level, nutrient mineralization under no-till actually increases
and exceeds that under conventional tillage.
4 Because of higher levels of moisture and lower levels of soil
O2, no-till can stimulate denitrification. This may result in a
need to augment N levels with fertilizer.
4 Some soil stratification can also occur because nutrient
elements tend to accumulate in the upper few centimeters of
soil as they are added to the soil surface as crop residues,
animal manures, chemical fertilizers, and lime.
4 inally, without tillage to mix the soil, the acidity effects of N
oxidization, residue decomposition and rainfall are
concentrated in the upper few centimeters of the soil as well
leading in reduced pH levels than in the rest of the soil profile.

4 Biological effects are all good. The abundance, activity, and
diversity of soil organisms tend to be greatest in conservation
tillage characterized by high residue levels on the surface and
low levels of tillage. Earthworms and fungi, both important to
soil structure, are especially favoured by no-till.