Catchment scale hydrology of an irrigated cropping system under soil conservation practices |
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| Authors: | Patricio Cid Helena Gómez‐Macpherson Hakim Boulal Luciano Mateos |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Córdoba, Spain;2. Department of Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA;3. International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), North Africa Program, Settat, Morocco |
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| Abstract: | Soil erosion by water is a pressing environmental problem caused and suffered by agriculture in Mediterranean environments. Soil conservation practices can contribute to alleviating this problem. The aim of this study is to gain more profound knowledge of the effects of conservation practices on soil losses by linking crop management and soil status to runoff and sediment losses measured at the outlet of a catchment during seven years. The catchment has 27.42 ha and is located in a commercial farm in southern Spain, where a package of soil conservation practices is an essential component of the farming system. The catchment is devoted to irrigated annual crops with maize–cotton–wheat as the primary rotation. Mean annual rainfall‐induced runoff coefficient was 0.14 and mean annual soil loss was 2.4 Mg ha?1 y?1. Irrigation contributed to 40% of the crop water supply, but the amount of runoff and sediment yield that it generated was negligible. A Principal Components Analysis showed that total soil loss is determined by the magnitude of the event (rainfall and runoff depths, duration) and by factors related to the aggressiveness of the events (rainfall intensity and preceding soil moisture). A third component showed the importance of crop coverage to reduce sediment losses. Cover crops grown during autumn and early winter and crop residues protecting the soil surface enhanced soil conservation notably. The role of irrigation to facilitate growing cover crops in Mediterranean environments is discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | catchment soil conservation runoff sediment loss cover crop conservation agriculture |
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