RT Journal Article
T1 Effectiveness of conservation agriculture (tillage vs. vegetal soil cover) to reduce water erosion in maize cultivation (Zea mays L.): An experimental study in the sub-humid uplands of Guatemala.
A1 Blanco-Sepúlveda, Rafael
A1 Enríquez Narváez, Francisco
A1 Lima-Cueto, Francisco Javier
K1 Agricultura de conservación
K1 Agua - Erosión
AB Cultivated uplands in tropical latitudes are severely affected by soil water erosion. Conservation agriculture (CA)is specifically intended to control erosion. The aim of the present study is to analyse the effectiveness of CAmeasures to reduce the erosion in maize cultivation (Zea mays L.) on andosols in the mountains of southernGuatemala. The study was conducted over a three-year period, from 2017 to 2019, onthree experimental plots managed under conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT) and no-tillage (NT). The results showed different rates of eroded soil surface between the three management systems: 73.2% under CT, 41.3% under RT and 20.4%under NT. Analysis of the complete database (n = 36) showed that the litter cover (ryl.p = –0.86, p < 0.001) andthe soil disturbance (ryp.l = 0.57, p < 0.001) were, in that order, the factors with the greatest explanatory powerof the eroded surface. The segmented analysis (n = 12) showed that the management system adopted had adecisive influence on the ground cover (litter and weed cover) and, therefore, on the soil erosion. Under CT, theeroded surface was only correlated with the weed cover (ryw.l = –0.68, p < 0.05), under NT only with the littercover (ryl.w = –0.89, p < 0.001) and under RT the erosion did not correlate with either of the vegetal layers.Three conclusions are derived from this study. First, litter layer was the key explanatory factor of erosion.Second, this factor is highly influenced by the agricultural management system. The proportion and distributionof the litter layer in each management situation were key to explaine the different soil erosion rates between thethree management systems. And finally, it is proposed for the area of this study the soil management under NTwith a dense and well distributed litter cover.
PB Elsevier
YR 2021
FD 2021-07-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/30269
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/30269
LA eng
NO Blanco-Sepúlveda, R., Enríquez-Narváez, F., & Lima, F. (2021). Effectiveness of conservation agriculture (tillage vs. vegetal soil cover) to reduce water erosion in maize cultivation (Zea mays L.): An experimental study in the sub-humid uplands of Guatemala. Geoderma, 404, 115336.
NO This work was supported by the Project ‘Transfer-monitoring-evaluation of soil erosion control measures for sustainable agricultural development in rural communities with high vulnerability to climate change in Chimaltenango (Guatemala)’, (Ref. 2020UI005), funded by the Andalusian Agency for International Cooperation (AACID), Spain, and by the Association for Welfare, Progress and Development, Guatemala.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 23 ene 2026