Oat Straw Mulching Reduces Interril Erosion and Nutrient Losses Caused by Runoff in a Newly Planted Peach Orchard

Abstract

Soil erosion is one of the major problems in the agricultural areas in the world, and straw mulching is a conservation practice that may reduce soil runoff. How much straw mulching is necessary to reduce soil runoff? The objectives of this study were to quantify and characterize the runoff under different levels of oat straw mulching, as well as to analyze the cost of soil erosion. An experiment was performed in a site with the soil recently tilled for peach orchard implementation. In the ridges in the row of the peach orchard, plots were placed in order to quantify soil and nutrient losses by surface runoff due to interril erosion on the dates 23 August 2015 and 13 March 2016, considering the treatments were composed of different amounts of oat straw mulching (0, 1, 2, 4 and 8 Mg ha−1). The results showed that the use of oat straw mulching decreased soil runoff, especially the doses ≥2 Mg ha−1, and the cost to replace the available nutrients P, K, Ca and Mg via mineral fertilizer varies from US$ 75.4 (no mulching) to US$ 2.70 per hectare (8 Mg ha−1 oat straw mulching).

Keywords

• water erosion
• sediment
• soil conservation
• crop residue
• vegetative practices of soil conservation
• cost of erosion