ISSN 2360-7971
*Corresponding author: Obsa A | Received: 17/2/2023 | Accepted: 6/3/.2023 | Published: 30//3/2023 |
Abstract: Soil erosion is a global environmental crisis in the world today that threatens natural environment and also the agriculture where it can be mentioned as more serious in Ethiopia. Thus, site specific soil and water conservation measures study that can easily attain both agricultural and environmental sustainability had been carried out at Assosa. A field experiment was conducted under natural rainfall conditions to investigate the effects of farming systems (soil tillage and cropping systems) on runoff, soil loss on Nitisol of Assosa area, western Ethiopia. Eighteen experimental runoff plots of 8 m long and 3 m wide each were framed with corrugated iron sheets. The experimental design used was randomized complete block design (RCBD) with six treatment in factorial combinations vis-à-vis three cropping systems (sole maize, sole soya bean and intercropping of maize with soya bean), with tillage system (no tillage and convectional tillage), that were replicated three times. The results revealed non-significant variation among the treatments regarding their effect on runoff depth, soil loss, sediment concentration, in situ water conservation. No tillage had reduced sediment concentration per litre of runoff by (3.26 g/L, 3.13 g/L and 4.37 g/L), total runoff volume (by 0.06m3, 0.03m3and 0.06m3per plot and soil loss per hectare by (507 kg/ha, 1300.4 kg/ha and 897.3 kg/ha) as compared to conventional tillage with intercropping, sole maize and sole soya bean cropping systems respectively. Also, No tillage had increased in situ-water retention by 18 mm, 21.3 mm and 14.63 mm per plot as compared to conventional tillage for maize, soya bean and maize-soya bean intercropping systems respectively. Totally, the study ratified the key importance of no tillage for both soil and water conservation than conventional tillage.
Key words: soil loss, runoff, sediment concentrati