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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Soil erosion in sloping cropland is a major water and soil conservation issue in the Loess Plateau region, one of the main areas with sloping cropland in China. However, the effect of crop root systems, a major factor potentially influencing soil and water conservation in cropland, on farmland erosion, remains unclear. In the present study, soil erosion was investigated using indoor runoff scouring experiments with millet, maize, and soybean cover, with a bare surface as the control (CK), on sloping surfaces. Crop root system characteristics, rill initiation time, and erosion law, as well as their interactions, were investigated. Rill initiation time in slopes with all three crops slope were greater than that in the bare slope, indicating that crops could significantly enhance soil anti-scourability. Soil detachment rate decreased under crop cover when compared with bare land, considering the average soil detachment rate was the highest under CK, followed by under maize and soybean, and the least under millet. Slope gradient and unit discharge rate were positively correlated with soil detachment rate. Root length density, root surface area density, and root volume density were negatively correlated with soil detachment rate. Moreover, roots in the 0–1 mm diameter range dominantly influenced soil erosion.

Details

Title
Effects of Different Crop Root Systems on Soil Detachment by Concentrated Flow on the Loess Plateau in China
Author
Sun, Jiaqian 1 ; Lu, Pei 2 ; Cao, Yongxiang 3 ; Zhang, Naichang 1 ; Wu, Faqi 4 ; Li, Peng 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Powerchina Northwest Engineering Corporation Limited, Xi’an 710065, China; [email protected] (J.S.); [email protected] (Y.C.); [email protected] (N.Z.) 
 Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Ecological Restoration in Shanbei Mining Area, College of Life Science, Yulin University, Yulin 719000, China 
 Powerchina Northwest Engineering Corporation Limited, Xi’an 710065, China; [email protected] (J.S.); [email protected] (Y.C.); [email protected] (N.Z.); Shaanxi Provincial River and Lake Ecological Protection and Restoration Engineering Technology Research Center, Xi’an 710065, China 
 College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang 712100, China; [email protected] 
 State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China; [email protected] 
First page
772
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20734441
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2637816390
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.