Brazilian literature lacks data on soil and water loss by water erosion in perennial crops although such data would be essential for conservation planning and erosion modeling studies. Data of soil and water loss under natural rainfall (July 1960 to June 1972) in Pindorama, State of São Paulo, Brazil, were used to calculate the soil loss ratio (SLR) and C factor for the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) in coffee (Coffea arabica L.) planted in five spacings (3.0 x 0.5 m, 3.0 x 1.0 m, 3.0 x 2.0 m, […]

Soil management has an impact on soil cover and roughness, and, together with other variables, affects water erosion. In São José do Cerrito, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil, three simulated rainfall tests were evaluated during the soybean cycle March 2000 through June 2001 in combination with the five tillage systems: plowing + disking (bare soil) (BS); plowing + disking and soybean crop on dry oat residues (PD); chiseling + disking and soybean crop on dry oat residues (CD); soybean crop […]

Erosion is the most deleterious form of soil degradation. Besides reducing the productivity capacity for crops, it can cause serious environmental problems, such as sedimentation and pollution of water sources. Yet the use of sound soil management systems and well-planned support conservation practices can solve erosion problems satisfactorily. In order to obtain quantitative information on the subject as guidelines for conservation plans, an erosion experiment under natural rainfall was conducted on a very clayey soil (Typic Haplortox), in Santo Ângelo, […]

Rainfall and runoff together are the active agents of water erosion, furthermore influenced by soil cover and roughness, crop and soil tillage. Compared to conventional tillage, water erosion is reduced in soil conservation tillage because this method is less intensive, preserves the cover longer, and sometimes increases soil roughness. Erosion losses (soil and water) of a clayey Hapludox with a slope of 0.09 m m-1 were evaluated in Chapecó, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, from November 1994 to October 1999 under natural rainfall. […]

Erosion is deleterious because it reduces the soil’s productivity capacity for growing crops and causes sedimentation and water pollution problems. Surface and buried crop residue, as well as live and dead plant roots, play an important role in erosion control. An efficient way to assess the effectiveness of such materials in erosion reduction is by means of decomposition constants as used within the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation – RUSLE’s prior-land-use subfactor – PLU. This was investigated using simulated rainfall […]

Site-specific regression coefficient values are essential for erosion prediction with empirical models. With the objective to investigate the surface-soilconsolidation factor, Cf, linked to the RUSLE’s prior-land-use subfactor, PLU, an erosion experiment using simulated rainfall on a 0.075 m m-1 slope, sandy loam Paleudult soil, was conducted at the Agriculture Experimental Station of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (EEA/UFRGS), in Eldorado do Sul, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Firstly, a row-cropped area was excluded from cultivation […]

Soil and water loss data under natural rainfall in Lages, Santa Catarina State (Brazil), from November 1992 to October 1998, were utilized to calculate the soil loss ratio (SLR) and C factor for the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) under three soil tillage systems for corn and oat in rotation with other crops. The studied treatments were: plowing followed by disking twice (P + D), chiseling plus disking (C + D) and no-tillage (NT)/direct sowing, cultivated with corn (Zea mays) […]

Erosion control benefits provided by conservation tillage can be diminished if mulch fails or loses its effectiveness. A field experiment was carried out at the Agriculture Experimental Station of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Eldorado do Sul, RGS, Brazil, on a 0.105 m m-1 slope, sandy loam Ultisol, to investigate mulch failure for different forms of residue management under no-till system. Simulated rainfall (63.5 mm h-1) was applied with the rotating-boom rainfall simulator until steady-runoff rates […]

Using simulated rainfall on a 0.12 m m-1-slope typic Hapludalf (Red Yellow Podzolic Soil), sandy-loam soil, erosion losses by water were evaluated during corn (Zea mays L.) that had followed oats (Avena strigosa Schieb) and bare-fallow in the winter. Field work was conducted at the Silviculture Experimental Station of the Secretary of Agriculture of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, from 1994 to 1995. Conventional and no-tillage performed with animal and tractor traction were the main treatments studied. Rainfall was applied […]

Soil and water loss under natural rainfall in Lages (SC – Brazil), from November 1992 to October 1998, were used to calculate soil loss ratio (SLR) and C factor for the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) under three soil tillage systems and two crops. Treatments studied were plowing followed by two disking (P+D), chiseling plus disking (C+D) and no-tillage (NT), cultivated in succession with soybean (Glycine max) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), compared to a check plot: plowing followed by […]