Soil Loss From Tillage Ridge as Affected by Waste Materials and Soil Amendments.

In semi-arid regions with low crop residues, tillage ridges are used to mitigate wind and water erosion. Unfortunately, without sufficient immobile soil aggregates, bare ridges also often need additional protection. From late winter through early summer of 2006-2008 the reduction in erosion by various treatments was compared to untreated control plots. Treatments included surface applications of waste material and soil amendments (e.g., manure, fly ash, lime, waste newspaper, gypsum, polyacrylamide and straw) on sandy-loam soil tillage ridge plots at the NRCS Ashland Plant Material Research Center, Manhattan, KS.  Eroded soil was trapped in gutters installed at the base of individual ridges.  Although, the treatments decreased the rate of wind and water erosion, there was a considerable difference between the north and south facing sides of the ridges, because of rain and wind angles. Protection of the surface created roughness and small “dams” which stored water that later infiltrated into the soil, thus reducing the amount of soil carried away.  Soil loss was significantly reduced (up to 2 - 5 times relative to control) by combined application of manure (50 t/ha) + fly ash (14 t/ha), fly ash (14 t/ha) + lime (4 t/ha), and slightly incorporated waste paper (4 t/ha) + manure (~5 t/ha) + gypsum (~2 t/ha). This combination of amendments increased water infiltration, decreased runoff and diminished detachment and transport of soil particles and sediment loss by wind and rainfall events. Future work on these methodologies could make them become effective control strategies for wind and water erosion control in semi-arid regions.