Proceeding reports on vetiver system for soil and water conservation research programme
1995
Withoon Chinapan | Arthit Sukkasem | Anuwat Pothinam (Land Development Department, Bangkok (Thailand))
Use of vetiver grass for soil and water conservation was introduced into Thailand by the World Bank since a few years ago. Several government agencies became interested in using it, so they set up field trials to prove its validity. Following are some of the experimental results in the first year (1993). The vetiver hedge can reduce soil loss in field crop area with 3-5 percent slope (VI less than 1 m) at least 6-83 percent compared with the control plot. On the other hand, in the area with slope more than 10 percent, the vetiver hedge with 1-3 m VI can reduce soil as much as 98 percent. The vetiver hedge can conserve soil moisture for field crop, fruit tree and can retain soil moisture for a longer time. The vetiver hedge could be planted at the distance of at least 1 m from the tree trunk or field crop row to avoid the plant competition. The major obstacle of growing vetiver grass is the high death rate of the grass seedlings when the soil was too dry. The test showed that if the grass seedlings are transplanted during the rainy season, i.e., from May to September, a survival rate of more than 95 percent can be assured; the hedges become thick and healthy, and could perform their function in checking speed of run-off and trapping the accompanied soil material very well.
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