A Estimation of Soil Loss Using Rainfall Simulator and Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) A Case Study of Soil Erosion Assessment under Simulated Rainfal Section Articles

Abstract

Soil erosion results to the loss of topsoil, soil fertility and organic matter content in the soil which leads to reduction in crop production potential, lower surface water quality and damaged drainage networks. The objective of the study was to estimate the quantity of soil loss using the universal soil loss equation (USLE), determine the quantity of soil loss under simulated rainfall and compare the results from both methods. Field and laboratory experiments were used for estimation of soil loss from samples collected from two fields, Gwallaga and Bayara, the soil loss in tons/ha/yr. from the field experiment was, 4.37, 4,01, 6.46, and 3.09, 2.83, 3.37 for both Bayara and Gwallaga, and the estimated soil loss under simulated rainfall was found to be 5.26, 3.58, 6.34 and 3.54, 2.50, 3.96 for both Bayara and Gwallaga, by comparing the result using /descriptive statistics, the result obtain shows close to 100% accuracy, this indicate that the rainfall simulator can be best used for erosion estimation studies. The soil type on the two fields which range from clay- sandy-loam, clay-loam and sandy-loam, shows that the amount of soil loss in tons/h/yr. is low as it does not exceed 7.0tonne/h/yr. and it is therefore tolerable.

Keywords: erosion, soil loss, rainfall simulator,