TY - JOUR

T1 - Soil loss by water erosion in areas under maize and jack beans intercropped and monocultures

AU - Terra Lima, Pedro Luiz

AU - Naves Silva, Marx Leandro

AU - Curi, Nilton

AU - Quinton, John

N1 - Creative Commons License All the contents of www.scielo.br, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License

PY - 2014/3

Y1 - 2014/3

N2 - Adequate soil management can create favorable conditions to reduce erosion and water runoff, consequently increase water soil recharge. Among management systems intercropping is highly used, especially for medium and small farmers. It is a system where two or more crops with different architectures and vegetative cycles are explored simultaneously at the same location. This research investigated the effects of maize intercropped with jack bean on soil losses due to water erosion, estimate C factor of Universal Soil Losses Equation (USLE) and how it can be affected by soil coverage. The results obtained also contribute to database generation, important to model and estimate soil erosion. Total soil loss by erosion caused by natural rain, at Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil, were: 4.20, 1.86, 1.38 and 1.14 Mg ha(-1), respectively, for bare soil, maize, jack bean and the intercropping of both species, during evaluated period. Values of C factor of USLE were: 0.039, 0.054 and 0.077 Mg ha Mg-1 ha(-1) for maize, jack bean and intercropping between both crops, respectively. Maize presented lower vegetation cover index, followed by jack beans and consortium of the studied species. Intercropping between species showed greater potential on soil erosion control, since its cultivation resulted in lower soil losses than single crops cultivation, and this aspect is really important for small and medium farmers in the studied region.

AB - Adequate soil management can create favorable conditions to reduce erosion and water runoff, consequently increase water soil recharge. Among management systems intercropping is highly used, especially for medium and small farmers. It is a system where two or more crops with different architectures and vegetative cycles are explored simultaneously at the same location. This research investigated the effects of maize intercropped with jack bean on soil losses due to water erosion, estimate C factor of Universal Soil Losses Equation (USLE) and how it can be affected by soil coverage. The results obtained also contribute to database generation, important to model and estimate soil erosion. Total soil loss by erosion caused by natural rain, at Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil, were: 4.20, 1.86, 1.38 and 1.14 Mg ha(-1), respectively, for bare soil, maize, jack bean and the intercropping of both species, during evaluated period. Values of C factor of USLE were: 0.039, 0.054 and 0.077 Mg ha Mg-1 ha(-1) for maize, jack bean and intercropping between both crops, respectively. Maize presented lower vegetation cover index, followed by jack beans and consortium of the studied species. Intercropping between species showed greater potential on soil erosion control, since its cultivation resulted in lower soil losses than single crops cultivation, and this aspect is really important for small and medium farmers in the studied region.

KW - Cover plants

KW - C factor

KW - soil sustainability

KW - MINAS-GERAIS STATE

KW - RAINFALL EROSION

KW - NUTRIENT LOSSES

KW - TILLAGE SYSTEMS

KW - VEGETAL COVER

KW - GREEN MANURE

KW - C-FACTORS

KW - SOUTH

KW - CORN

KW - CROP

U2 - 10.1590/S1413-70542014000200004

DO - 10.1590/S1413-70542014000200004

M3 - Journal article

VL - 38

SP - 129

EP - 139

JO - Ciência e Agrotecnologia

JF - Ciência e Agrotecnologia

SN - 1413-7054

IS - 2

ER -