Evaluation of buffer hedgerow on soil conservation practice and P and K balance for coffee grown in Benguet [Philippines]
1988
Colting, R.D.
The effectiveness of buffer hedgerow in controlling soil erosion was evaluated in a hilly area grown to coffee in La Trinidad, Benguet [Philippines]. In the same treatment plots, P and K balance was studied. The treatments involved a combination of coffee with and without buffer hedgerow. Runoff and soil loss were significantly reduced with the inclusion of buffer hedgerow in the cropping system. The use of native sunflower and Benguet pine as buffer hedgerow reduced runoff and soil loss at similar magnitudes as alnus. The computed conservation practice factor value of buffer hedgerow was 0.140, 0.333 and 0.351 for alnus, pine and sunflower, respectively. These values were lower than for contouring alone whose value was 0.9 indicating that buffer hedgerow are effective in controlling erosion on steep slopes. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was found to overestimate annual soil loss by about 38 times than actual soil loss. Overestimation could be due to high rainfall intensities in Benguet and high slope of the area where such conditions were apparently not covered by the database in the formulation of USLE. Buffer hedgerow also helped prevent nutrient loss. Plots without buffer hedgerow were found to lose 12.1 kg available P and 170.5 kg exchangeable K/ha/yr due to erosion. In the presence of buffer hedgerow, the amounts of P and K lost due to erosion were drastically reduced as a result of reduced runoff and soil loss. Aside from controlling soil erosion, buffer hedgerows helped prevent nutrient leak in the cropping system by reducing the quantity of the transporting agents and by tying up nutrients in their biomass.
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