Soil management effects on runoff and soil loss from field rainfall simulation

Soil erosion from agricultural lands is a serious problem on the Chinese Loess Plateau. In total, 28 field rainfall simulations were carried on loamy soils under different management practices, namely conventional tillage (CT), no till with mulch (NTM), reduced tillage (RT), subsoiling with mulch (SSM), subsoiling without mulch (SS), and two crops per year (TC), to investigate (i) the effects of different soil management practices on runoff sediment and (ii) the temporal change of runoff discharge rate and sediment concentration under different initial soil moisture conditions (i.e. initially dry soil surface, and wet surface) and rainfall intensity (85 and 170 mm h^− 1) in the Chinese Loess Plateau. NTM was the best alternative in terms of soil erosion control. SSM reduced soil loss by more than 85% in 2002 compared to CT, and its effects on runoff reduction became more pronounced after 4 years consecutive implementation. SS also reduced considerably the runoff and soil loss, but not as pronounced as SSM. TC resulted in a significant runoff reduction (more than 92%) compared to CT in the initial ‘dry’ soil, but this effect was strongly reduced in the initial ‘wet’ soil. Temporal change of runoff discharge rate and sediment concentration showed a large variation between the different treatments. In conclusion, NTM is the most favorable tillage practices in terms of soil and water conservation in the Chinese Loess Plateau. SSM can be regarded as a promising measure to improve soil and water conservation considering its beneficial effect on winter wheat yield.