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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #104303
Title: ON-FARM ASSESSMENT OF CONTOUR HEDGES FOR SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION IN CENTRAL KENYA

Author
item ANGIMA, SAMSON - NAIROBI, KENYA
item O'NEILL, M - NAIROBI, KENYA
item Stott, Diane

Submitted to: International Soil Conservation Organization (ISCO)
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/22/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: This is an ongoing study to assess the impact of contour hedges on soil and water conservation under direct farmer management practices at the Kianjuki catchment area. Twelve runoff plots (six on 20% slope and six on 40% slope) are arranged on two terraces on two farms. There are two treatments with three replications for conserved and non-conserved plots. Data for three rainfall seasons indicate more soil conserved by hedges than the non-hedged control on both slopes. For the three seasons 1997 long rains, 1997 short rains and 1998 long rains, a seasonal average of 120 t/ha of soil were lost from the conserved plots compared to 157 t/ha for the control plots on the 20% slope. For the 40% slope 118 t/ha of soil were lost from the conserved plots compare to 151 t/ha of soil for the control plots. The advantages of using hedges as conservation strips were observed for both soil loss and fodder production. An average of 3.4 t/ha of fodder for the 1988 long rains season were harvested from the conserved plots at no loss in maize yield (average maize yields for both treatments were 2.7 t/ha for the three seasons). As part of integration of agroforestry practices towards soil conservation, these results reflect a support practice subfactor of 0.99 for the 20% slope and 0.98 for the 40% slope on a scale of 0-1 (where 0 is more soil conserved and 1 no soil conserved), for use in soil erosion prediction using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE).