title: Assessment of Micro-Basin Tillage as a Soil and Water Conservation Practice in the Black Soil Region of Northeast China.
abstract: Micro-basin tillage is a soil and water conservation practice that requires building individual earth blocks along furrows. In this study, plot experiments were conducted to assess the efficiency of micro-basin tillage on sloping croplands between 2012 and 2013 (5°and 7°). The conceptual, optimal, block interval model was used to design micro-basins which are meant to capture the maximum amount of water per unit area. Results indicated that when compared to the up-down slope tillage, micro-basin tillage could increase soil water content and maize yield by about 45% and 17%, and reduce runoff, sediment and nutrients loads by about 63%, 96% and 86%, respectively. Meanwhile, micro-basin tillage could reduce the peak runoff rates and delay the initial runoff-yielding time. In addition, micro-basin tillage with the optimal block interval proved to be the best one among all treatments with different intervals. Compared with treatments of other block intervals, the optimal block interval treatments increased soil moisture by around 10% and reduced runoff rate by around 15%. In general, micro-basin tillage with optimal block interval represents an effective soil and water conservation practice for sloping farmland of the black soil region.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China.|Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China.
authors.forename: Baixing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute of Jilin Province, Changchun 130033, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Centre Eau Terre Environnement, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-ETE), 490 de la Couronne, Québec, Qc, Canada.
authors.forename: Alain N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.affiliation: Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute of Jilin Province, Changchun 130033, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D011891:Rain; D012621:Seasons; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply; D003313:Zea mays / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D014867:Water