Agro-environmental lessons from the ‘sustainable highland agriculture in South-East Asia’ (SHASEA) project

To promote sustainable agro-environmental development in the highlands of South-East Asia, an international multidisciplinary research team examined the effectiveness of selected agronomic and soil conservation treatments (both modified and novel cropping practises) using farmer-managed runoff plots. The study sites were located in the highlands of Yunnan Province (Wang Jia Catchment), China and Mae Honson Province (Pang Mapa District), Northern Thailand. Project lessons relating to co-operation, research partnerships, time horizons, multidisciplinarity, income generation, information dissemination and education are discussed. Article in English. Žemės ūkio ir aplinkosauginė patirtis vykdant projektą „Tvarusis žemės ūkis Pietryčių Azijos aukštumose“ Santrauka. Tvariajai žemės ūkio plėtrai skatinti Pietryčių Azijos aukštumose tarptautinių tarpdisciplininių mokslinių tyrimų grupė ištyrė pasirinktų argonominių bei dirvos apsaugos būdų efektyvumą (taikyta ir modifikuotieji, ir nauji žemdirbystės būdai) dirbamuose ūkininkų laukuose. Tyrimo vietos pasirinktos Junanio provincijoje (Wang Jia baseine) Kinijoje ir Mae Honson provincijoje (Pang Mapa srityje) Šiaurės Tailando aukštumose. Straipsnyje aptariama projekto pamokos, susijusios su bendradarbiavimo plėtojimu, mokslinių tyrimų partneryste, investavimu, tarpdisciplininių metodų taikymu, pajamų augimu, informacijos sklaida ir švietimo klausimais. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Kinija, šiaurės – pietų bendradarbiavimas, dirvožemio apsauga, INCOPLAST, pietų – pietų bendra darbiavimas, šiaudų mulčas, tvarioji plėtra, Tailandas, “laiko horizontas”. Сельскохозяйственный и природоохранный опыт, полученный при осуществлении проекта «Рациональное сельское хозяйство на возвышенностях юго-восточной Азии» Резюме. С целью содействовать рациональному развитию сельского хозяйства на возвышенностях юго-восточной части Азии группа ученых, занимающаяся междисциплинарными научными исследованиями, исследовала эффективность некоторых агрономических и почвоохранных мер с применением как модифицированных, так и новых способов земледелия на обрабатываемых сельскохозяйственных полях. Для исследований были выбраны места в провинциях Юнань (в бассейне Wang Jia) в Китае и Мае Гонсон (Pang Mapa) на возвышенностях Северного Таиланда. Проанализирован опыт, полученный при осуществлении проекта и касающийся развития сотрудничества, партнерства в сфере научных исследований, инвестирования, применения междисциплинарных методов, роста доходов, распространения информации и вопросов просвещения. Ключевые слова: Китай, сотрудничество между севером и югом, почвоохранные меры, INCOPLAST, сотрудничество между югом и югом, соломенная мульча, рациональное развитие, Таиланд, «горизонты времени»

The effects of tillage practices and crop rotation systems on soil properties and water use efficiency / by Mattiga Panomtaranichagul.

Bibliography: p. 291-301.xxxii, 301 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm.Basic hypothesis is that improved water use efficiency of rainfed crops can be achieved by adoption of tillage and sowing practices and crop rotation systems which improve surface and subsurface soil structure to increase the accession of rainfall and availability of soil water.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Soil Science, 1997

DRIP IRRIGATION INCREASING HEDGEROW FRUIT TREES GROWTH OF ALLEY CROPPING IN HIGHLAND RAINFED AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM

Abstract Drip irrigation system was applied in combination with the alley cropping to solve the problem of fruit tree damage during the dry season, increase water use efficiency and productivity of the hedgerow-fruit trees planted on sloping highland rainfed agriculture. Drip irrigation was designed on the basis of engineering calculation with low cost investment and high efficiency system. Rainwater was collected in the cylindrical containers set at the upper top part of the experimental plots. Watering from the drip irrigation system was supplied to each planting pit under gravitational force. The amounts of water collected and supplied to each fruit tree were calculated on the basis of the actual water use or evapotranspiration of the fruit tree in the hedgerows during the dry season (January-May). In addition, hydrophilic polymer was also applied to increase the water holding capacity within the root zone before drip irrigation experiment. The experiment was designed as a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications of 4 practice, (i) non-irrigation, (ii) non-irrigation with polymer using, (iii) drip irrigation and (iv) drip irrigation with polymer using. The effects of drip irrigation on crop water use, total stored soil water, plant growth and some soil properties were compared with the effects of non-irrigation and polymer application. The results showed that drip irrigation gave substantially higher amount of stored soil water within 1 m soil depth than that of the non-irrigation. However, combination effect of drip irrigation and hydrophilic polymer tended to give the highest stored soil water throughout the experimental periods compared to either drip irrigation or non-irrigation only. During the dry season, the stored soil water under drip irrigation was significantly increased whilst it was decreased under non-irrigation. Fruit trees without drip irrigation were withered and some were died. The results also showed that the plant canopy and height of fruit trees under drip irrigation were growing better than those without irrigation. Vegetative growth of mango, lemon, star apple, guava and sapodilla under drip irrigation were higher than those under nonirrigation at 32, 80, 38, 55 and 20%, respectively

Soil Science: Confronting New Realities in the 21st Century

The effects of selected contour cultural practices on soil and water conservation and crop water use efficiency were compared under a rainfed highland agricultural system. The field trial was conducted during 2000 and 2001 on a 35% hill slope (latitude 19°33'47"N, longitude 98°12'9"E, altitude 780m) in Maehongson province, Northern Thailand. A completely randomized design, with four treatments and three replicates, used a cropping sequence of maize, followed by lablab bean, was conducted from May 2000 to April 2002. The treatments were (i) conventional contour planting, CC, (ii) contour ridge cultivation without mulching, CR, (iii) contour ridge cultivation with polythene sheet + straw mulch, INCOPLAST or CRP and (iv) alley cropping with mango-hedgerow tree and ground surface cover with Graham Stylo, AL. Soil water stored within 1700 mm was monitored every 2-3 weeks by neutron moisture meter. Runoff and erosion were measured after every rain storm. Soil sampling and analysis were conducted one month after sowing and one month before harvesting maize. Crop development was measured as total dry biomass at different growth stages and maize and lablab bean yields were harvested as total dry-matter and yields. Results obtained during the two experimental years (2000-2001) showed that alley cropping (AL) was the most effective treatment in decreasing runoff and erosion, while CRP was the second best at erosion control. However, CRP had the highest rate of runoff and erosion under high intensity rainfall during the early growing season. Generally, CRP protected the soil surface from the splash erosion and had better soil physical properties, leading to the highest crop water use efficiency, and had the highest growth rate of Lablab bean. Crop yields under CRP and AL were relatively high andcomparable compared with either CC or CR during the dry season of both years

Evaluation of biological geotextiles for reduction of runoff and soil loss

Proceedings of the Green5 Conference, Vilnius, Lithuania 1 July - 4 July 2008The objective of the work reported is to evaluate the effectiveness of selected types of biological geotextile in reducing runoff and soil lossin continental, temperate and tropical environments. Laboratory simulations used various rainfall intensities, flow shear stresses and slope gradient and field plot data were collected from seven countries. The laboratory experiments indicate that all tested biological geotextiles are effective in reducing interrill runoff (32-73% of the value for bare soil) and interrill erosion rates (5-27 % of the value for bare soil). Since simulated concentrated flow discharge sometimes flows below the geotextiles, their effectiveness in reducing concentrated flow erosion is significantly less (25-153% of the value for bare soil). On field plots, where both interrill and rill erosion occur, all tested geotextiles reduced runoff depth on average to 17-63 % of the control value for bare soil and in some cases, runoff depth increased compared to bare soil surfaces, which can be attributed to the impermeable and hydrophobic characteristics of some biological geotextiles. In the field, soil loss rates due to interrill and rill erosion were reduced on average to 5-20 % of the value of bare soil by the biological geotextiles. For all environmental conditions, the relative reduction of both runoff and soil loss by geotextiles compared to bare soil, increased with increasing rainfall depth. Runoff depths are significantly more reduced by Buriti and Rice straw geotextiles on the longer field plots (6-10 m) compared to the short interrill laboratory plots (0.9 m). Only the Rice straw geotextiles are significantly more effective in reducing soil loss on the longer field plots compared to the short interrill laboratory plot