Measures to control water erosion

1. Strip cropping:

• This refers to the growing of alternate strips of close growing and erect growing crops. This is helpful in checking water erosion.
• The strips are laid across the slope. Strips of close growing crops reduce the transporting and eroding power of water by forming obstruction to runoff and filter out the soil from the runoff and retains it in the field.

2. Contour cultivation:

• Contour refers to a line drawn through points of equal heights on the ground. These are suitable on land with slope less than 5-6%.
• Each row of the crop, each bund, each ridge of plough and furrow act as an obstruction to runoff,
• providing more opportune time for water to enter into the soil and reduce the soil loss.

3.Conservation tillage:

• Conservation tillage is disturbing the soil to the minimum extent necessary and leaving crop residues on the soil.
• Conservation tillage system includes minimum and zero tillage, which can reduce soil loss.
• While the conventional tillage includes ploughing twice or thrice followed by harrowing and
• It leaves no land unploughed and leaves no residue on the field. The chances of soil loss by conventional tillage are more than 50% over conservation tillage.

4. Mulching:

• Mulches can cover more soil surface and protects the soil from rain drop impact.
• By increasing the amount of mulch, the sediment present in runoff water can also be reduced.
• Mulching with plant materials reduces soil loss upto 43 times compared to bare soil and 17 times compared to cropped soil without mulches.

5. Cropping system:

• Growing a crop which produces the maximum cover, reduces runoff and soil loss.
• Cowpea and green gram are important cover crops for the rainy season.
• These crops give early and dense (85%) ground cover which generally coincides with peak rate of runoff.
• In multiple cropping systems where the soil is covered with crops throughout the year and there may be runoff but soil loss is minimum as the falling raindrops are intercepted by the crop.

6. Use of chemicals:

• Soils with stable aggregates resist break down and thus resist erosion.
• Breakdown of aggregates by the falling raindrops is the main cause of detachment of soil particles.
• Aggregate stability can be increased by spraying chemicals like Polyvinyl alcohol @ 480 kg/ha, the rate however, depending on the type of soil.