Effect of Red Pepper Canopy Coverages on Soil Loss and Runoff from Sloped Land with Different Transplanting Dates

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 ( 16' 42.67" N, 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 (=0.35, p=0.09, p). The red pepper canopy cover subfactor was more highly correlated with soil loss in clay loam (=0.83, p=0.48, p=0.43, p (=0.34, p.