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| Soil and water conservation effects of different cropping patterns in slope croplands in water conservation areas |
| （Institute of Agricultural Environment & Resources, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Science, 650205, Kunming, China） |
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Abstract The effects of soil and water conservation by three cropping patterns (Zea mays L. plus Triticum aestivum crop rotation, multiple forage seeding pattern, and Pyrus sorotina plus green manure pattern) were studied in slope croplands of 16.5° in water conservation areas. The three-year monitoring data showed that, compared with the Zea mays L. plus Triticum aestivum crop rotation, the multiple forage seeding pattern could effectively decrease the soil erosion and nutrient loss, the volume of runoff, soil loss and nutrients loss by 27.7%, 44.2% and 38.0%, respectively, while the Pyrus sorotina plus green manure pattern decreased these indexes by 14.4%, 20.9% and 27.9%, respectively, and the effects were strengthened over time. In comparison with the Zea mays L. plus Triticum aestivum crop rotation, the multiple forage seeding pattern could still gain equivalent net income even when reducing the application of fertilizers by 34.0%. The net income of Pyrus sorotina plus green manure pattern increased by 5.9% compared with the Zea mays L. plus Triticum aestivum crop rotation. In addition, the Pyrus sorotina yield still has great potential to rise after full productive period. From the perspective of soil and water conservation, the multiple forage seeding pattern has the best effects; while from the economic point of view, the Pyrus sorotina plus green manure pattern produces the highest benefit. Both of them can be considered as optimum schemes to modulate the cropping patterns and manage slope croplands comprehensively in water conservation areas.
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Received: 19 March 2013
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