Soil & Water Res., 2020, 15(3):158-165 | DOI: 10.17221/25/2019-SWR

The impact of the conservation tillage "maize into grass cover" on reducing the soil loss due to erosionOriginal Paper

Eva Procházková1,2, David Kincl*,1,2, David Kabelka1,2, Jan Vopravil1,2, Pavel Nerušil4, Ladislav Menšík4, Vojtěch Barták3
1 Department of Pedology and Soil Conservation, Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation, Prague-Zbraslav, Czech Republic
2 Department of Land Use and Improvement, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
3 Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
4 Division of Crop Management Systems, Crop Research Institute, Prague-Ruzyně, Czech Republic

Maize (Zea mays L.) belongs among the most important agriculture crops all over the world. The conventional way of cultivating maize with wide row spacing does not have a soil conservation effect and significantly contributes to water erosion and surface run-off. In our research, we tested the soil conservation technology (strip-till into grass cover) which took place in 2016 and 2017 in the location of Central Bohemia. The impact of a strip-till system of maize into grass cover on reducing the soil loss due to erosion was verified on the area of 21 m2 using a rainfall simulator. During the research, 70 measurements were realised. The strip-till was compared to fallow land, conventional cultivation and no-till methods. Profound differences were found in the soil loss between the treatments. There was a decrease in the soil loss of about 98% in the strip-till compared to the conventional cultivation. Moreover, the surface run-off was reduced by 79%. The ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) models of the log-transformed soil loss on the surface run-off and treatment were highly significant (P < 10-15). The measurement results clearly demonstrate the positive effect of the strip-till into the grass on the surface run-off and soil loss. This positive soil conservation effect was observed even in springtime, as well as the rest of the season. Using a grass cover for establishing the maize significantly contributes to the soil conservation on the land threatened by erosion and offers farmers a suitable way of farming when growing maize. Strip-tilling is a technology that has great potential in sustainable farming.

Keywords: erosion control measures; rainfall simulator; soil conservation; strip-till; surface run-off

Published: September 30, 2020  Show citation

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Procházková E, Kincl D, Kabelka D, Vopravil J, Nerušil P, Menšík L, Barták V. The impact of the conservation tillage "maize into grass cover" on reducing the soil loss due to erosion. Soil & Water Res. 2020;15(3):158-165. doi: 10.17221/25/2019-SWR.
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