PROJCT LIFE12 ENV/IT/000578

www.lifehelpsoil.eu

www.lifehelpsoil.eu

Francesca Staffilani Geological, Seismic and Soil Survey - Regione Emilia-Romagna, Italy

WORKSHOPSOIL EROSION MODELLING

Ispra (VA)20-22 March 2017

Life Help Soil project –Conservation Agriculture and erosion monitoring

Objective of Life HelpSoil

is to test and demonstrate Conservation Agriculture practices and innovative solutions aim at:• improving soil ecological functions (organic carbon sequestration, increase of fertility and edaphic biodiversity, protection against erosion)• increasing water use efficiency and irrigation practices• improving crop fertilization practices, in particular manure distribution• reducing the use and limiting the impact of pesticides• strengthening sustainability and competitiveness of agriculture by reducing fossil fuel consumption for soil• enhancing adaptation to climate change of agricultural systems

The project started in July 2013 and will end in July 2017

Actions concern the whole Po plain and the Alpine and Apennine foot-hills and are applied in 20 demonstrative farms.

The pillars of Conservation Agriculture are:

• minimum soil mechanical disturbance (no-tillage and direct seeding)• permanent organic soil cover (crop residues or cover crop)• crop rotation with at least three different crops

All these actions have an impact on erosion processes: the permanent cover protect soil from raindrop impact and flow traction. The increase of organic matter due to this agronomic system improve soil structure and water infiltration.

Cover-crop in no-tillage systemTilled soil

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To test protection against soil erosion a demonstrative farm located in Emilia-Romagna Appennine Hills was chosen.

Demonstrative farm : Agriturismo GLI ULIVILocation: Emilia Romagna Appennine (Predappio FC)Cropping system: cereals, alfalfa, olive trees, vineyard, livestookAltitude: from 295 to 420 m a.s.l.Mean annual rain : 670 mm (2006-2015)Slope : from 10 to 40% with predominant East orientationSoil parent material: pelithic-arenaceous rock-bed Soil Type : fine to coarse loamy, from moderately deep to deep, calcareousErosion evidences: sheet erosion, rill erosion

What we have done :Two theses with the same crop rotation (alfalfa 2014, winter wheat 2015, sorghum 2016, winter wheat 2017) but two different management systems:

• Traditional Agriculture(tillage system)

• Conservation Agriculture (no-tillage and direct seeding, permanent organic soil cover )

February 2015

What we have monitored :

• organic carbon, bulk density, soil structure stability, biodiversity, soil quality

• crop yields• EROSION PROCESSES

VISUAL ASSESSMENT

▪ soil cover

▪ soil erosion

▪ photo shots

▪ GPS-referenced plots

▪ Rainfall data

In order to monitor soil erosion processes avisual assessment was used. The reference wasthe “Visual Soil Assessment of FAO, 2008”which evaluates soil condition based on thedegree of the ground cover and the degree oferosion.

Nearly every month pictures and annotations oferosion processes were collected and the stateof soil was established according to the visualsoil assessment method.

November 2015

June 2016

What we have observed:

Alive cover crop

Killed cover crop and direct seeding

Sorghum

Tilled soil

Seeded soil

In Convention agriculture the presenceof cover crop during the winter seasonprotects soil from the raindrop impact.

This effect remains even after the covercrop is killed because the residues ensurea good ground cover while the main cropis growing.

May 2016

November 2015

June 2016

Tilled soil

Seeded soil

Sorghum

May 2016

In Traditional agriculture during winterseason the soil is bare waiting for springseeding. Soil erosion can occurs and itdepends on the amount and intensity ofrainfall.

Even during plants growing the surfacecover is still low and erosion induces lossof soil and productivity.

What we have observed:

November 2015

May 2016

June 2016

Because the variability of rainfall andsince mechanical soil tillage can blind orcancel the evidence of erosion it‘snecessary to plane a frequent monitoringduring the year to verify the status of thesoil.

Visual Soil Assessment is aneasy method to monitoring soilerosion but it doesn’t permit toput in evidence signs of erosionlike erosion pins or rootsexposure.

Some conclusion about Visual Soil Assessment :

Thank you

Francesca Staffilani Geological, Seismic and Soil Survey - Regione Emilia-Romagna, Italyhttp://ambiente.regione.emilia-romagna.it/geologia/temi/geologia-en