Evaluation of Soil Loss According to Surface Covering and Tillage Methods in Corn Cultivation

Corn was mainly cultivated in slope land during summer season when heavy rain falls so that soil loss occurs severely. Especially, soil disturbance and exposure of topsoil by conventional tillage intensifies soil loss by heavy rain. The aim of this study was to develop surface covering and tillage methods for reducing soil loss in corn cultivation. The experiment was conducted in 17% sloped lysimeter with 8 treatments including strip tillage after surface covering with rye residue, strip tillage after residue covering of several crops and sod culture, black polyethylene film covering after conventional tillage and control. Amount of runoff water and eroded soil, and corn growth were investigated. Amounts of runoff water in all plots except black polyethylene plot ranged from 152 to 375 $m^3\;ha^{-1}$, accounting for 13~32% of 1,158 $m^3\;ha^{-1}$ in control. Amount of eroded soil decreased by 94 to 99% (3 to 89 kg $ha^{-1}$) in plots of strip tillage after covering with crop residues compared to control with 1,739 kg $ha^{-1}$. Corn yields in plots of strip tillage after covering with crop residues ranged from 6.0 to 6.9 Mg $ha^{-1}$, while that of control was 6.5 Mg $ha^{-1}$. The results suggest that strip tillage methods after surface covering with crop residues are very effective on soil conservation of slope land in corn cultivation.