An evaluation of furrows for managing soil and water loss from a shallow Alfisol under simulated rainfall

Furrows are widely used in rainfed areas of semi-arid India for soil and water conservation. The orientation of furrows, either down or across slope, and their spacing influence the effectiveness of furrows as soil and water conservation measures. We evaluated treatments with furrows aligned down and across 3% sloping land at spacings of 90, 60 and 30 cm under simulated rainfall intensities of 80 and 100 mm/h on a shallow Alfisol. A bare plot without any furrows was considered as a control. A large (24 m × 3 m) rainfall simulator developed at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, was used for this controlled study. Run-off was measured by a calibrated tipping bucket run-off recorder. The effects of the treatments on peak flow rate (L/s), sediment loss with run-off water (kg/ha/mm), peak sediment concentration (g/L), run-off (per cent rainfall) and time to peak (min) were investigated. When compared with the control (no furrows), across slope furrowing with 60- and 30-cm spacing reduced sediment yields by 19.9 and 21.3 kg/ha/mm of run-off, respectively, under a rainfall intensity of 80 mm/h and 24 and 25.3 kg/ha/mm of run-off, respectively, under a rainfall intensity of 100 mm/h. For the control, sediment loss was 50.72 kg/ha/mm run-off and 56.68 kg/ha/mm run-off for rainfall intensities of 80 and 100 mm/h, respectively. Similar trends were recorded from observations of peak flow, time to peak and peak sediment concentration. Run-off hydrographs demonstrated the conservation value of across slope furrowing by delaying run-off initiation, reducing run-off and slowly releasing the run-off after the cessation of rainfall. The results show that furrow orientation has major effects on reducing run-off, whereas furrow spacing has insignificant effects.