Impact of Land Management Practices on Runoff, Soil Loss and Infiltration Under Simulated Rainfall

A laboratory study was conducted to quantify the effects of various land management practices on runoff, soil loss and infiltration under simulated rainfall conditions. A prototype rainfall simulator was designed and tested in the laboratory to simulate rainfall at 100 mm.h−1 intensity over different land management practices. The effect of five land management practices on runoff, infiltration and soil loss were evaluated for a set of rainfall intensity (100 mm.h−1), rainfall duration (15 min) and raindrop size/pore size of the nozzle (3.5 mm). The considered management practices were intense tillage land cover, zero or no-tillage land cover, minimum tillage land cover, perennial grass system and urban environment. Perennial grasses were found to be the best management practices to minimize the surface runoff and soil loss with increase in infiltration rate. Experimental results showed that perennial vegetation produced minimum runoff (0.2 l), very small soil loss (4.99 kg.ha−1) and maximum infiltration rate (117.67 mm.h−1), whereas urban environment (concrete surface) produced maximum runoff (3.7 l), minimum infiltration rate (0.1 mm.h−1) and minimum sediment loss (0.08 kg.ha−1).