5.2D Soil conservation Notes

1. Soil conservation refers to all strategies used to protect, maintain, or improve soil quality, ensuring long-term agricultural productivity and ecosystem health.
2. These techniques address erosion control, fertility maintenance, and sustainable cultivation, bringing environmental, economic, and sociocultural benefits.
3. Soil conservation is essential because degraded soil leads to:
   1. Loss of topsoil
   2. Declining fertility
   3. Erosion, desertification, and compaction
   4. Reduced agricultural yields
   5. Lower ecosystem resilience

Conservation from Water Erosion

Terracing

1. Terracing reshapes steep slopes into flat platforms, reducing the velocity of water moving downslope.
2. Water spreads across each terrace, lowering erosion risk and increasing infiltration.

Benefits:

1. Reduces soil loss on steep land.
2. Allows cultivation in otherwise unsuitable areas.
3. Prevents gully formation.

Contour Ploughing

1. Ploughing follows the natural contour lines of the landscape rather than going up and down slopes.
2. The furrows slow runoff and give water time to infiltrate the soil.

Benefits

1. Decreases water flow speed.
2. Prevents topsoil removal.
3. Reduces formation of rills and small gullies.

Bunding

1. Bunds are low retaining walls built along field boundaries.
2. They capture rainfall, sediments, and runoff, allowing water to be used for irrigation.

Benefits:

1. Reduces loss of soil and nutrients.
2. Prevents rapid outflow of water.
3. Useful in areas with intense seasonal rainfall.

Drainage Systems

1. Systems of drains, ditches, and settling ponds are created to manage excess water.
2. Sediments are allowed to settle before water leaves the field.

Benefits:

1. Prevents waterlogging.
2. Reduces erosion and nutrient loss.
3. Prevents formation of stagnant water.

Cover Crops (Water Protection)

1. Plants are grown on bare soil between main crop seasons.
2. Their roots bind soil and intercept rainfall.

Benefits:

1. Reduces water erosion.
2. Improves soil structure.
3. Adds organic matter when ploughed under.