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Title: APPLICATION OF REVISED UNIVERSAL SOIL LOSS EQUATION (RUSLE) TO MISSISSIPPI

Author
item McGregor, Keith
item Foster, George
item Mutchler, Calvin
item GOLDEN, LARRY - USDA NRCS

Submitted to: Mississippi Water Resources Research Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/11/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) recently was revised and released as the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) by the USDA- Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and cooperators through the Soil and Water Conservation Society. RUSLE is a significant advancement and improvement over the widely used USLE, and has significant applications for Mississippi that should be described for potential users. This paper describes the improvements in included in RUSLE and gives some example applications for Mississippi. Many of the new features in RUSLE use research conducted by the National Sedimentation Laboratory of the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in cooperation with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. The RUSLE equation is a valuable tool for conservationists and farmers in identifying sites where erosion potential is excessive and is an important tool for choosing cost-effective systems to comply with federal legislation to participate in key government agricultural support programs.

Technical Abstract: The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is a significant improvement over the widely used Universal Soil Loss Equation and has significant applications for Mississippi. Many of the new features in RUSLE use research conducted by the National Sedimentation Laboratory of the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in cooperation with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Improvements in RUSLE of particular importance to applications in Mississippi include a reduction in the R factor for ponded water on flat slopes; an improved slope steepness relationship for low slopes; a subfactor method to compute the effect of cover and management for a wide range of conditions; the consideration of the effect of winter weeds; much improved accuracy for no-till; a method to compute the effect of contouring as a function of storm erosivity, row grade, and ridge height; and a method to compute the effect of a wide variety of cropping systems that involve strips. This technology represents a dramatic improvement over past erosion prediction technology, which is an important consideration in choosing cost-effective systems to comply with federal legislation to participate in key government agricultural support programs.