Plant and Soil Science

The main reason for the degradation of agricultural landscapes is soil erosion, the consequences of which over the past decades have become threatening ecological dimensions and caused significant economic losses to agricultural production. Soil erosion is the result of a complex interaction of natural factors and human economic activity. In this case, the latter in most cases is the main cause and leading factor of erosion. The object of research was the soil cover of the Pechenezhsky Landscape Park “Pechenezhskoye Pole”, the territory of which is equipped with special soil protection measures: forest shelter belts, drainage channels, withdrawal of part of the territory from under arable land, the use of grassland crop rotations. The purpose of the research was to establish the extent of possible erosion losses of soil from the territory in order to further determine the flow of washed-off soil into the river Gnilushka, to conduct a comparative assessment of the existing erosion hazard and danger subject to the anti-erosion equipment of the territory, to check and refine the methodology for quantifying soil loss and water pollution due to erosion soils. The article presents the results of two series of predictive calculations for the conditions of the existing allocation of land and in the case of the implementation of the project for the conservation of the territory. Quantitative assessment using the WEPP erosion model and specialized software showed that with a rainfall of 10% sufficiency, equipping the territory with forest belts and drainage structures can significantly reduce the erosion hazard, even in black steam conditions. 

water erosion, erosion danger, erosion losses, model of erosion processes, soil-protective agrolandscape