Abstract
Soil erosion is a growing challenge for agricultural production in Northern China. To explore the effect of variation in stubble height and mulching biomass on soil erosion caused by wind, we conducted a field experiment using a quadratic rotation combination design. Results showed that the quantity of straw mulch was the dominant factor affecting soil erosion, and stubble height was of secondary importance. The soil water content in stubble and straw mulching treatments was higher than in a control treatment at 0–20 cm soil, and the tendency in the amount of soil water content was opposite to the amount of wind erosion (r = −0.882, n = 10, p < 0.01). The change in soil water content observed in the stubble and mulch treatments at the 15–20 cm depth was higher than the change from 0–5 cm to 5–10 cm. Combined, the influence of a stubble height of 34 cm and mulch quantity of 4260 kg·ha−1 lowered the amount of erosion to 0.42 t·ha−1, and increased the corn yield to 11900 kg·ha−1. We determined that those were the most appropriate levels of stubble height and straw mulch for crop fields in the semi-arid regions of Northern China.
Highlights
Soil erosion caused by wind is one of the major barriers to sustainable development of agriculture in arid areas
The amount of wind erosion in treatments H4M4 was 1.85 t·ha−1, significantly less than other treatments (p < 0.05) and reduced by 88.25% compared to the control
The wind erosion data for different treatments was used to express the relationship between wind erosion (Y), stubble height (X1) and mulch quantity (X2) as a two-factor quadratic regression model with general rotation: Y = 4.5079 − 1.7272X1 − 2.5755X2 − 1.3098X1X2 + 0.7668X12 + 1.1479X22 (1)
Summary
Soil erosion caused by wind is one of the major barriers to sustainable development of agriculture in arid areas. The factors that affect field wind erosion include soil surface roughness and crop residues. An increase of wheat stubble height from 30 to 61 cm reduced the wind speed by 74% 9. Leaving crop residues in the field has been demonstrated as an effective method to prevent wind erosion[10,11]. The height and quantity of stems determines the silhouette area, ensures the effectiveness of standing crops. Mulching quantity and the stubble height were two critical factors influencing crop yields. A feasible plan to balance the two objectives (stubble height and straw mulching quantity) is of key importance for the development of sustainable agriculture. Our objective was to explore the effect of variation in the stubble height and mulch quantity on soil erosion by wind. Our findings contribute to the theoretical basis for measures to control the problem of soil erosion by wind, due to sandstorms, in semi-arid regions of Northern China
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