Field measurement of wind erosion flux and soil erodibility factors as affected by tillage and seasonal drought

Abstract

During periods of no or low crop growth in dryland cropping systems, tillage can reduce residue coverage and thereby elevate wind erosion risk. We measured wind erosion on a silt loam, Haplustoll soil in North Dakota (456 mm precipitation yr–1) in response to levels of tillage applied once in spring during fallow following a small grain–sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) rotation. Treatments were no-tillage (NT), one-pass tandem disk tillage (TDT), and two-pass offset disk tillage (ODT). Erosion flux was measured with sediment samplers near peripheries of >1-ha replicated plots from May through September 2003 and 2004. Soil losses in ODT, TDT, and NT were 12.0, 4.8, and 2.1 Mg ha–1, respectively, in 2003 and 2.6, 1.6, and 1.4 Mg ha–1 in 2004. The greatest loss, 12.0 Mg ha–1, was equivalent to 1-mm soil depth. The two- to fivefold greater erosion in 2003, a year with 2 mo of <30% of average precipitation, appears linked to a decline in residue coverage. Coverage remained about the same in NT and increased in tilled treatments during 2004 with more average precipitation. Our measurements of wind erosion have shown how the residue-destroying effects of a single tillage event can be considerably exacerbated by a moderate, seasonal drought. This indicates the critical importance of NT for limiting soil and residue disturbance and reducing wind erosion risk from drought-affected plant growth failure in semiarid cropping systems.