EFFECT OF VEGETATIVE COVER AND SLOPE ON SOIL LOSS BY EROSION USING RAINFALL SIMULATOR
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Date
2016-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN FORESTRY, WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENT
Abstract
Top soil is very important for crop production but it is usually washed away in the tropical
countries like Nigeria by erosion due to heavy rainfall with high intensity. In this study, a
rainfall simulator was used to determine the quantity of soil loss (sediment load) from a bare
soil and vegetative cover soil under different slopes. The slopes of the land for plots 1 to 5 for
a bare soil varied from 5.20 to 9.7 % but for a vegetative cover soil (grown with grasses), the
slopes varied from 2.8 to 3.2 %. The uniformity coefficient and drop velocity of the rainfall
simulator used were 84.4 % and 8.156 m/s, respectively. The soil of the experimental site was
sandy loam and the area of coverage by rainfall simulator was 3 by 3 m. Soil loss (sediment
load) for a vegetative cover soil for slopes 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2 % were 0.252, 0.358,
0.350, 0.371 and 0.422 kg, respectively. Soil loss from a bared soil for slopes 5.2, 6.7, 9.0, 9.6
and 9.7 % were 1.045, 1.070, 1.100, 2.266 and 3.121 kg, respectively. Vegetative cover soil
with grasses reduced the runoff volume and soil loss. Runoff volume and soil loss increased
as slope of the land increases.