Soil and nutrient losses due to root crops harvesting: a case study from southwestern Iran

Abstract

ABSTRACTAlthough root crops are widely cultivated in Iran, little is known about soil loss due to crop harvesting (SLCH). We assessed the annual exported soil, soil organic matter (SOM) and nutrients from 47 farms under root crops in southwestern Iran. Soil losses for garlic, potato, sugar beet, radish and beetroot were estimated as 6.27, 2.52, 2.26, 4.10 and 6.95, Mg ha−1, respectively, which on average was of the order of soil losses by water erosion in the watershed basins of Iran. Total N, P2O5 and K2O losses were estimated as 36.61, 1.10 and 31.50 kg ha−1 and their costs as 18.24, 0.74 and 19.93 US$ ha−1, respectively. For the whole country, total soil, N, P2O5, K2O and SOM losses for garlic, potato and sugar beet were estimated as 731.7 × 103, 836, 27, 476 and 14.5 × 103 Mg, respectively (radish and beetroot were excluded due to no reliable data on their planted areas). Correlation analysis showed no significant relationship between soil properties and SLCH (except soil moisture content for radish and clay content for beetroot). The findings indicated that the exported soil, SOM and nutrients were at such levels that SLCH should be considered in soil erosion studies.