Sugarcane reduces soil erosion by more than 80 per cent in five major soil groups of Mauritius
| MSI07P4266 | |
| Seeruttun, S. Ah Koon, D. Ismael, F. M. Ng Cheong, R. | |
| Sugarcane reduces soil erosion by more than 80 per cent in five major soil groups of Mauritius | |
| periodical | |
| 2007 | |
| Proc. int. Soc. Sug. Cane Technol. | |
| 26: 384-387 | |
| poster paper | |
| En | |
| En Sp Fr | |
| A project was initiated in 2001 to study soil erosion in five major soil groups of Mauritius. Two standard erosion plots, one with bare soil and the other planted with sugarcane, were established to measure bedload and sediment load over four consecutive years. The soil erodibility (K) factor using the USLE/RUSLE model was determined for each soil group. Soil erosion varied significantly across sites and year; highest soil loss (bare plots) was recorded at Bel Ombre and was followed by Sans Souci, Le Val, St Felix and Etoile with a mean of 37.6, 14.3, 9.5, 4.1 and 0.5 t/ha/y, respectively. The proportion of soil erosion associated to 'cyclonic' events was found, on average, to vary between 45 per cent and 68 per cent depending on sites. The K values calculated from the erosion plots were 0.14, 0.05, 0.08, 0.03 and 0.01 at Bel Ombre, Sans Souci, Le Val, St Felix and Etoile respectively. Sugarcane reduced soil erosion by 80 per cent to 99 per cent; cane variety R 570 was more effective in controlling erosion than M 3035/66. The mean cover-management (C) factor varied between 0.07 and 0.09 for R 570 and 0.21 and 0.23 for M 3035/66. This study confirms the contribution of sugarcane in erosion control in Mauritius. | |
| sugarcane soils soil erosion erodibility erosivity | |
| Mauritius | |
| Sugarcane: Cultural operations | |
| Soil erosion | |
| 2007-08-06 | |
| En | |
| LIB | |
| CAT | |
| COWA Irrig |