@article{Duran zuazo_Martínez_Tejero_Panadero_Raya_2012, title={Mitigation of soil erosion by planting ground cover almonds: implications for sustainable mountain agriculture}, volume={3}, url={https://comunicatascientiae.com.br/comunicata/article/view/110}, DOI={10.14295/cs.v3i2.110}, abstractNote={<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><font size="1"><p>The conservation and sustainable management of soil and water resources are some of the biggest challenges in rainfed agricultural systems. During two hydrological years, we have studied the rates of erosion and soil runoff from hillside farming in three types of vegetation: barley (Hordeum vulgare), vetch (Vicia sativa) and thyme (Thymbra capitata), in an extensive planting of almond (Prunus amygdalus). The esperiment was conducted in Lanjaron (Granada, SE Spain) with closed erosion plots of 144 m2 (24 mx 6 m) on a hillside with a slope of 35%. Three meter wide vegetable strips were arranged intermittently and across the slope between rows of almond trees. The records</p></font><span style="font-family: Century Gothic,Century Gothic; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Century Gothic,Century Gothic; font-size: xx-small;">of erosion and agricultural runoff were significantly lower in plots covered with thyme, in contrast to </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">those recorded with vetch. The effectiveness of the thyme-covered over the barley and vetch ones in controlling erosion and runoff exceeded 69 and 67%, respectively. Cover crops while cutting and </span><span style="font-family: Century Gothic,Century Gothic; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Century Gothic,Century Gothic; font-size: xx-small;">stopping the path of surface runoff retained transported sediments and promote their infiltration into the soil. Besides, the remaining runoff with much less energy can reinfiltrate on the ground before </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">being intercepted by the next swath. We have concluded that the combination of growing woody </span><span style="font-family: Century Gothic,Century Gothic; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Century Gothic,Century Gothic; font-size: xx-small;">plant and cover stripes represents an efficient model of adaptation to the traditional systems to </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">improve productivity and sustainability of mountain agriculture in semiarid climate. </span></span></span></span>}, number={2}, journal={Comunicata Scientiae}, author={Duran zuazo, Victor Hugo and Martínez, José Ramón Francia and Tejero, Iván García and Panadero, Lorenzo Arroyo and Raya, Armando Martínez}, year={2012}, month={Jun.}, pages={123–129} }