Growth characteristics and performance of vetiver, Vetiveriazizanioides, as vegetative barrier for erosion
2001
Kukal, S.S. | Bawa, S.S. | Sur, H.S.,Punjab Agricultural Univ.,Ludhiana (India). Dept. of Soils
Soil erosion by water is a serious problem in sub- mountainousregion of Punjab (India). Vegetative methods of erosion control beingmore effective both in terms of action and cost need consideration inthe area. A study was undertaken in the region to study the growthpatterns of vetiver and its performance as vegetative barrier againstthe running water. Growth characteristics such as survival, height,clump girth and biomass were studied on loamy sand, sandy loam andsandy clay loam soils both under irrigated and un- irrigatedconditions. Another experiment was conducted on field plots with 4%slope steepness and strips of vetiver barriers, with the inter-stripareas planted with corn during summer and wheat during winterseason. The runoff and soil loss were recorded from these strips aftereach rainfall event. Survival of vetiver plants increased with increasein fineness of soil texture as well as soil moisture content. Increasingthe number of plants per hill from one to six increased the plantsurvival. Vetiver plants established quickly after transplantation asevidenced from plant height, clump girth and biomass after first yearof study. Vetiver barriers decreased runoff losses to the tune of 40-48% and soil losses by 53-75% from that without barriers. The dailyrainfall- runoff relationships could best be described by log-linearfunction. However, in case of vetiver barriers value of R2 was low dueto the eraticity of runoff production.
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