what are the practices that are used to control soil degradation ? explain them briefly .
Answers
Answer:
Ploughing to rills and contour planting to create small dams across a field, to or impound water flow. Filling small gullies with mechanical equipment or conversion into a protected or grassed waterway. Terracing of slopes to reduce rates of runoff.
Explanation:
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Soil degradation is a global process, but affects arid and semi-arid zones in sub-Saharan Africa most. Soil degradation is increasing worldwide, especially in the countries within the tropics. Depletion of nutrients and soil organic matter and erosion are the principal forms of soil degradation (see also nutrient requirements).
Among the land used for agriculture and forestry, soil is an important component. The intensive and increasing pressure on land leads to its degradation and pollution, which may result in a partial or complete loss of its productive capacity. Soil degradation can be defined as a process by which one or more of the potential ecological functions of the soil are harmed or destroyed. Soil degradation is a process that lowers the current and/or future capacity of the soil to produce goods and services.
The most prominent degradation
Types of soil degradation
Soil degradation can be classified into four main types of degradation: water erosion, wind erosion, chemical deterioration and physical deterioration.
Water erosion
Water erosion means that soil particles are detached either by splash erosion (caused by raindrops), or by the effect of running water. Water erosion is influenced by four factors: rainfall, soil type, slope gradient, and soil use/vegetation cover (INFONET-BIOVISON 2010).
Rainfall: The impact of raindrops on the soil surface can break down soil aggregates and disperse the aggregate material over the surface. Lighter aggregate materials such as very fine sand, silt, clay and organic matter can be easily removed by the raindrop splash and runoff water. Greater raindrop energy or runoff amounts might be required to move the larger sand and gravel particles. Runoff can occur whenever there is excess water on a slope that cannot be absorbed into the soil or trapped on the surface. The amount of runoff can be increased if infiltration is reduced due to soil compaction, crusting or freezing.
Soil type:
Soil erodibility is an estimate of the ability of soils to resist erosion, based on the physical characteristics of each soil type. In general, soils with faster infiltration rates, higher levels of organic matter and improved soil structure have a greater resistance to erosion. Sand, sandy loam and loam-textured soils tend to be less erodible than silt, very fine sand, and certain clay textured soils.
Slope gradient:
Naturally, the steeper the slope of a field, the greater the amount of soil loss from erosion by water. Soil erosion by water also increases as the slope length increases due to the greater accumulation of runoff.
Soil use: Plant and residue cover protects the soil from raindrop impact and splash, tends to slow down the movement of surface runoff and allows excess surface water to
Sheet erosion: This means when a fairly uniform layer of soil is removed over an entire surface area.
Rill erosion: This occurs where water runs in very small channels over the soil surface, with the abrading effect of transported soil particles causing deeper incision of the channels into the surface.
Gully erosion: This type of erosion occurs when rills flow together to make larger streams. They tend to become deeper with successive flows of water and can become major obstacles to cultivation.
Bank erosion: This is caused by water cutting into the banks of streams and rivers. It can be very serious at times of large floods and cause major destruction to property.
Wind erosion
The rate and magnitude of soil erosion by wind is influenced by the following factor.
Soil surface roughness: Soil surfaces that are not rough or ridged offer little resistance to the wind. However, over time, ridges can be filled in and the roughness broken down by abrasion to produce a smoother surface susceptible to the wind.
Climate: The speed and duration of the wind has a direct connection to the extent of soil erosion. Soil moisture levels can be very low at the surface during periods of drought,