• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.131-135
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• 2007

This study was performed as an effort to reduce soil loss by investigating the phase of water flow according to soil texture and rainfall pattern and by determining the canopy cover subfactor in the RUSLE (revised universal soil loss equation). Red pepper was planted at the 15% sloped lysimeter of $2m{\times}5m{\times}0.5m$ ($width{\times}length{\times}depth$) with three different textured soils (loam, clay loam and sandy loam) and the relationship between amount and intensity of rainfall; soil loss and the amount of runoff; and amount of rainfall and runoff at different soil texture were measured at the experiment station of the National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (NIAST) during May to October of 2005. The amount of runoff increased with increasing amount of rainfall, showing difference in the relative increase rate of runoff at different soil texture. The increase rate of runoff with unit increase of rainfall for the lysimeter with red pepper was 0.44, 0.41 and 0.13 for loam, clayey loam and sandy loam, respectively. The minimum amount of rainfall for runoff was 23.53 mm for sandy loam, 10.35 mm for loam and 5.46 mm for clayey loam, respectively. The canopy cover subfactors of red pepper were 0.425, 0.459, and 0.478 for sandy loam, loam and clayey loam, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.260-267
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• 2010

As sloped farmland is subject to runoff and soil erosion and consequently require appropriate vegetative coverage to conserve soil and water, a field study was carried out to evaluate the impact of crop canopy coverage on soil loss and runoff from the experimental plot with three different textural types (clay loam, loam, and sandy loam). The runoff and soil loss were examined at lysimeters with 15% slope, 5 m in length, and 2 m in width for five months from May to September 2009 in Suwon ($37^{\circ}$ 16' 42.67" N, $126^{\circ}$ 59' 0.11" E). Red pepper (Capsicum annum L. cv. Daechon) seedlings were transplanted on three different dates, May 4 (RP1), 15 (RP2), and 25 (RP3) to check vegetation coverage. During the experimental period, the vegetation coverage and plant height were measured at 7 day-intervals and then the 'canopy cover subfactor' (an inverse of vegetation cover) was subsequently calculated. After each rainfall ceased, the amounts of soil loss and runoff were measured from each plot. Under rainfall events >100 mm, both soil loss and runoff ratio increased with increasing canopy cover subfactor ($R^2$=0.35, p<0.01, $R^2$=0.09, p<0.1), indicating that as vegetation cover increases, the amount of soil loss and runoff reduces. However, the soil loss and runoff were depending on the soil texture and rainfall intensity (i. e., $EI_{30}$). The red pepper canopy cover subfactor was more highly correlated with soil loss in clay loam ($R^2$=0.83, p<0.001) than in sandy loam ($R^2$=0.48, p<0.05) and loam ($R^2$=0.43, p<0.1) plots. However, the runoff ratio was effectively mitigated by the canopy coverage under the rainfall only with $EI_{30}$<1000 MJ mm $ha^{-1}hr^{-1}$ ($R^2$=0.34, p<0.05). Therefore, this result suggested that soil loss from the red pepper field could be reduced by adjusting seedling transplanting dates, but it was also affected by the various soil textures and $EI_{30}$.