Estimates of Soil

Losses on Major
Agricultural Soils
in Borno state
Nigeria under
Common Farming
Practices
• cereal (millet, sorghum, rice,
wheat)
• legumes (cowpea, soybeans,
groundnut)
• Tree/Fruits
• Cross slope farming.
Sandy-loam
Clay-loam
Loamy-sand
Loamy
Effects of Soil erosion
On-site
Off-site
Objective of the study
Estimates of soil losses
on major agricultural
soils in the northeastern
sub region under
common farming
practices.
Soil losses were computed
using the universal soil loss
equation (USLE)
A = R x K x LS x C x P
• Tillage: No Till and Conservation
• Rainfall erosivity R was calculated
from:
R = 0.4669X – 12.1415
• Erodibilities (K) were calculated
using:
K = 2.8 X10-7 M1.14 (12-a) + 4.3 X 10-3 (b -2) + 3.3 X 10-3 (c-3)
 LS = (0.065 + 0.045 + 0.065 S2) *L
L = slope length (m) and
22.132

S = slope gradient (%)

◦ Slope steepness: ≤ 3%
◦ Slope length: 150m

Crop/Vegetation C
Cmanagement = Ctillage * Ccover * Cresidue

0.75 is usually taken for ‘P’ for cross slope

farming.
 Tillage Practices
Differences
Soil Types Crop Types No Till Conservation Tillage

Sandy Loam Cereal 1.318 1.846 -0.527

Legume 0.264 1.153 -0.890
Tree 0.33 0.461 -0.132
Sum 1.911 3.460
Clay Loam Cereal 3.189 4.465 -1.276
Legume 0.638 2.791 -2.153
Tree 0.797 1.116 -0.319
Sum 4.625 8.372
Loamy Sand Cereal 0.474 0.663 -0.189
Legume 0.095 0.414 0.320
Tree 0.118 0.166 0.047
Sum 0.687 1.243
Loam Cereal 3.272 4.581 1.309
Legume 0.654 2.863 -2.208
Soil losses:
Tillage
Tilled :No till
soil types
Loamy soil
Clay-loam soil
Sandy-loam soil
Loamy-sand soil
crops
Cereals
Tree
Legumes
• Worst soil loss (4.581 t/ha/yr)
was found as a result of planting
cereal crop on conservation-tilled
loamy soil,
• Least soil loss (0.095 t/ha/yr) was
an interaction of growing
legumes on non-tilled loamy sand
soils.
 Conclusions
Conservation tillage aggravates soil losses
relative to the No-till practice
Soil losses are greater on loamy soils and least
on loamy sand soil
Leguminous crops are enhance soil
conservation, and cereal crops are bad in soil
conservation
The estimated soil losses were below the
tolerable rate of erosion of 2
tonnes/hectare/year
 Soil conservation enlightenment
Use of conservation Agriculture
(C.A.) such as minimum soil
disturbance/reduced tillage,
permanent soil cover/zero tillage
and/or crop rotation;
Use of Bio-engineering approaches
Use of a model greater prediction
accuracy
THANK
YOU